


Fox Fire

by Flames and Fairy Tales (Thewritersapprentice)



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Kitsune, Retelling, half-demon shenanigans, i don't know how to tag, will be cross-posted on ff.net
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2018-10-24 16:53:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 44,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10745886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thewritersapprentice/pseuds/Flames%20and%20Fairy%20Tales
Summary: "Inari knew it wasn’t her brother’s fault -exorcists could not refuse orders given directly by the Vatican after all- but it still stung that she had to stay behind in Japan while Jun went of to fight demons in Germany."After being forced to transfer to True Cross Academy in her second year of high school, Inari joins the exorcist cram school in hopes of learning more about her demon blood. There she discovers there might be more to some of her classmates than it seems at first glance.





	1. Chapter 1

Inari glared at Jun’s back as he finished up the necessary paperwork to transfer her to True Cross Academy. She didn’t quite understand why they were finishing up the paperwork for her enrolment now –she’d already received her time table and been assigned to a dorm room two weeks ago- but Mephisto Pheles had insisted he hadn’t had the time to handle it before, so now they were forced to spend their last few hours together in the man's office.

Inari knew it wasn’t her brother’s fault -exorcists could not refuse orders given directly by the Vatican after all- but it still stung that she had to stay behind in Japan while Jun went of to fight demons in Germany. When Jun graduated from the exorcist cram school they had both known international missions where a possibility, but they had hoped he wouldn’t get assigned one until Inari reached majority. They didn’t have such luck, and therefore she had to transfer schools at sixteen, entering a completely different school for her second year of high school.  
And to be honest, it felt like she was being dumped because her presence was too much of a hassle. 

“Just one last signature there, and the paperwork is finished.” Mr Pheles stated. His cheery tone only set Inari further on edge, there was nothing fun about being separated from her last living family member.  
“Right,” Jun replied as he took the pink pen True Cross Academy’s principal held out to him. He obediently scribbled his signature on the designated line at the bottom of the page. 

“Perfect!” Mr Pheles exclaimed. With a snap of his fingers, both the documents and the pen disappeared in a puff of pink smoke. The sight was a little unsettling, and Inari reached for the glass orb that hung from a chain around her neck. When she was little, her grandmother had told her it was a charm to ward of everything that would want to do her harm, and all though she knew it wasn’t exactly the truth, the feeling off the cold glass underneath her fingers calmed Inari a little. 

“Now, I’ll leave you two to say your goodbyes, but I must ask that you hurry, Yukimura-chan simply can’t miss the opening ceremony!” With that, the demon disappeared out of his office. 

There was a beat of silence after the door closed behind him, and then Inari shot out of the couch she’d been sitting on, dropping her grumpy façade. Jun barely had the time to get out of the office chair in front of the desk before Inari crashed against him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head against his shoulder.  
“Not such a though teen now, are you?” Jun chuckled as he gently stroked his little sister’s hair. 

“I’m just gonna miss you, okay,” Inari mumbled into the heavy fabric of his exorcist’s coat.  
“You’ve got a cell phone, Nana-chan. Call me whenever.” Inari bristled a little to the use of the childish nickname, but didn’t complain about it. In a few hours she wouldn’t get to be fed up with her brother’s teasing for a long time.  
“There is an 8 hour time difference,” she pointed out.  
“So? If you call at 8:30 pm, it should be lunch time for me.”  
“Just let me complain for a bit, will you Nii-san?” Inari grumbled. Jun laughed and gripped her shoulders. He pushed her back slightly and looked into her eyes sternly. 

“Everything is going to be okay. We both know you’ll be the best in your regular class, and the cram school can probably teach you about the other part of your world a lot better than I’d ever be able to.” The statement was meant to be reassuring, but nerves flittered around in Inari’s stomach anyway.  
“I think I’m going to tell them right away,” she stated softly. She’d been thinking about how to deal with the part of her she still had to learn so much about.  
It had been roughly a year since she’d discovered who her father had been, although Jun had tried to tell her a long time before that. 

“If you think that’s best, you should.” Jun told his sister, shaking her out of her thoughts. “You should be able to find guidance from a few teachers, demon heritage is not uncommon among exorcist after all. They might be able to help you better than I can.” 

Their conversation was interrupted by three loud knocks on the door.  
“The opening ceremony is starting in ten minutes,” Mephisto Pheles sang from the other side of the wood. “I ask you to hurry. I have somewhere to be an hour ago.” 

“I still don’t understand why they thought it was a good idea to let a demon king run the Japanese branch,” Inari muttered softly, annoyed by the interruption.  
“Don’t be grumpy, he’s right you know.” Jun replied before roughly ruffling Inari’s hair. Some of the black strands escaped the braid they had been pulled back in. Inari tried to retaliate but Jun danced out of her reach. 

The siblings chased each other for a moment until Jun sighed.  
“This is it little sis.” Inari’s playful smile slipped of her face immediately as she looked into Jun’s brown eyes. According to the people who had known them, both Yukimura siblings had inherited their mother’s brown eyes. Inari knew that it wasn’t entirely true; especially after her powers had awakened there was a red gleam to her irises that could only be seen by people with a temptaint. No doubt it came from her father.

“You should call me when you wake up tomorrow, I should’ve arrived in Frankfurt at that time.”  
“When’s your plane leaving then?” Inari wondered.  
“At six this afternoon. I’ve got to meet up with five people from the Tokyo branch before we go to the airport though.”  
Because they were going with a relatively big team, they weren’t able to use one of Mephisto’s keys to go to the other side of the world. 

“Kick some Demon ass in Germany okay?” Inari told her brother. She knew she hadn’t been able to keep her voice from wavering as Jun’s expression softened.  
“I will. Now go before the demon king of time and space freaks out.”  
Inari nodded and walked up to the door. She grabbed the knob and twisted it, but turned back to her brother before opening the door. 

“I love you, Jun-nii, so come back safe, alright?”  
-  
The opening ceremony wasn’t nearly as interesting as the headmaster had made it sound like. A few teachers gave speeches on the importance of studying and the bright futures True Cross students were heading towards if they did well in school. Then the student council introduced themselves to the first years and transfers. Inari was utterly bored.

She later decided that the most exciting thing to happen in the whole hour she’d been stuck in that gigantic auditorium was the shocked gasp that had sounded from a seat behind her as the first year’s representative was introduced. She had thrown a quick look over her shoulder at the sound, just in time to see the surprised look on the face of a boy with dark hair and startling blue eyes turn into something like pride. 

After that, Inari allowed her thoughts to drift again. She had heard all the important information about the academy when she and Jun had discussed her transfer, and she expected to find information about the exorcist cram classes in the envelope Mephisto Pheles had shoved into her hands as he’d directed her to the auditorium. The demon had disappeared a second later, in a flurry of his white cloak and pink smoke. 

When the ceremony was over, and everybody started making their way towards the exits of the school to enjoy their afternoon of, Inari decided to stay behind on a bench for a moment. She tore the envelope open with her fingers and turned it upside down above her lap. A few documents, some folders about life on campus and a small, bronze key with a note attached to it came sliding out. The key was the first thing she examined. It was a simple key, heavy and a little bit old fashioned, but not so much so that it would stand out on her key ring. The note attached to it was short and simple: 

This key gives you access to the cram school; you can use it on any lock. You’re expected in room 1106 at 2 o’clock! 

Inari took out her phone to look at the time. It was a quarter to two, so the rest of the information packet would have to wait.  
After she put everything except the key back in the envelope, she stuffed it into her schoolbag and made her way to an unmarked door. 

The girl took a quick look around before jamming the key into the lock. It took a lot less effort than she expected, as the key slid into the lock as if it was made for it. (Which was absolutely not the case because this particular lock had a keyhole that was a lot smaller than the key). The door opened to a hallway that was way longer and higher than what could’ve been behind it originally. 

Inari stepped through the door, casting a look around her. The hallway was dark, but colourful, and it seemed to go on forever. She glanced behind her, but the portal she had stepped through had disappeared when she had closed the door behind her and she was now looking at a blank red wall.  
‘Huh, convenient,’ she thought to herself. ‘Now to find room 1106…’ 

It took a while to find her way, and eventually Inari ran into two girls. The pair seemed to be pretty close, the girl with short brown hair happily chatting away to her darker haired friend. 

“Hey, are you joining the first year cram school too?” Inari asked after jogging a bit to catch up with them. The brown haired girl was the first to reply.  
“That’s right. I’m Paku Noriko, and this is my friend Kamiki Izumo.”  
“I can introduce myself, Noriko,” Izumo grumbled, but Inari could tell she wasn’t really annoyed. She noticed that the other girl’s eyes had a reddish tint to them-just like her own- but before she could comment on it, Izumo averted her gaze.  
“My name is Yukimura Inari,” Inari introduced herself. “I’m looking forward to working with you.” 

Together, the three of them found the classroom with relative ease, but as they entered, Inari almost went back to check the number next to the door. The place was an absolute dump. The floor was covered in stray litter, the tape that held up some old posters had lost its stickiness which made their corners drooped down sadly, the corners of the room were absolutely covered in cobwebs, and Inari even spotted a few coal tars. The room seemed to give of an aura of darkness, as if saddened by its continued disuse. 

There already were five boys scattered in the classroom. A group of three boys was sitting at (and in the case of the pink haired one on) a desk near what may have been windows once upon a time. There was something familiar about the boys, and Inari could swear she had met at least the bald kid with glasses before, but no matter how hard she tried to recall when, she didn’t find an answer.  
Two rows ahead of them was a blond kid with a pink hand puppet and the final boy was sitting farther in the back, grey hoodie covering his face as he played with his hand held console. 

“Pretty big class this year,” Inari noted. She sat her purple schoolbag down on the front row desk on the right side.  
“What do you mean, big?” Noriko asked. She sounded uncertain as she glanced around the class a second time as if she’d missed students when she’d done so the before. Izumo claimed the desk behind Inari and patted the spot on its bench next to her with a meaningful look. Noriko didn’t react immediately, keeping her attention on Inari instead. Inari caught Izumo’s sour expression and flinched internally, that could get ugly.  
“My brother is an exorcist, Paku-san. He told me classes usually are about four or five students,” Inari explained. 

Before she could continue the conversation any further, the door opened again. Inari’s attention was drawn to the boy who had appeared in front of the class. She recognized his dark hair and striking blue eyes immediately –this was the boy who’d sat behind her in the auditorium- but now that they were in a relatively well lit room, she could make out more details. Like the fact that his ears were pointed, and that he was carrying a red sword case, but what really surprised her was the small white dog dancing around his feet. 

‘Mephisto?’ she wondered silently. Dog form or not, with the way he was flaunting the pink polka-dotted bow around his neck and his exorcist pin, she would recognize the demon anywhere. Why would he personally escort a student to the cram school?

The boy shot a glance around the room, just like Inari and the other girls had done, and Inari almost laughed at the way his brows furrowed in confusion. After a moment he plopped down at the middle desk in the front row. He shared a soft conversation with Dog-Mephisto, but before Inari could decide whether she wanted to listen in on it or not, the teacher entered the room. 

Inari’s eyes widened as she recognized the boy who entered in full exorcist costume. In front of the class was the first year representative, trying and mostly succeeding to give off an air of authority. If it weren’t for the tension in his posture, it would’ve seemed like he had been teaching for years. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” the young teacher started. “I’ll be your demon-pharmacology teacher, Okumura Yukio.”  
“Yukio? Is that you?” The last boy to enter before the teacher cried out.  
“Yes, that would be me.” Yukio replied drily.  
The boy sputtered before finally managing to ask: “What’s going on with you?”  
“I assure you, there’s nothing wrong with me.” Yukio smiled as if the entire situation was greatly amusing to him, and Inari was starting to feel uneasy with the commotion.  
“Now, if you don’t mind, I would prefer you to stay quiet while class is in session.”  
When Yukio didn’t give him a satisfactory answer, the boy turned to Mephisto, rapidly asking quiet questions, but the dog blew him off too. 

As Yukio continued his lesson by asking who hadn’t sustained a temptaint yet, Inari put up her hand. Technically, the Nekomata who’d attacked her last year never landed a hit on her, so saying she hadn’t gotten one wasn’t even a lie. She stared the boy down as she flicked away a coal tar with her raised hand. Yukio’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully before giving in.  
“Did you see what just touched your hand?” he trailed off. 

“Yes, I did, Okumura-sensei.” It felt weird to call somebody younger than her that, but she took it in stride.  
“Do you know what a temptaint is, then?” He asked. His eyebrows pinched together in a frown.  
“A wound or illness inflicted by a demon that gives humans the ability to see demons, sensei. I’ve never sustained one.” 

Murmurs rose from behind her as she gave the textbook definition, but Inari tried to ignore it. She did catch the interested look Mephisto’s charge gave her, and shot him a tiny smile.  
“My name is Yukimura Inari, sensei. I’m the daughter of a Kitsune.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this first chapter! I've only recently gotten into Ao no Exorcist, and the idea for this fan fiction came from my little sister, who suggested that things might've gone differently if their had been another half-demon in the class. I hope you like this so far, Kudos and comments are appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

The entire class was silent. Even that weird atmosphere that seemed to come from the room itself seemed to fall flat. Okumura-sensei looked utterly shocked, and he only managed to pull himself back together after about a minute of staring at her, gaping silently. 

For a moment Inari doubted her decision. What if they wouldn’t want to work with her now? She wasn’t afraid her classmates would think she was lying, -although she herself had simply refused to believe her father was a malicious fox spirit until she’d been attacked by one of his victims- as most of the people here would be at least familiar with the basics of human-demon interactions. 

“As teamwork is important, I thought it would be best to be upfront about my heritage. My demon blood is sealed, and I plan to keep it that way, but you never know what could happen.” As she explained herself, she touched her necklace again, feeling the tiny sliver of parchment hugging the orb closely underneath her fingertips. 

“Y-yes, thank you for your honesty, Yukimura-san. Is there anyone else who has got something to tell the class?” The waver in his voice was tiny, but Inari caught it anyway. She also caught the way he glanced at the dark haired boy in the front of the class, who seemed to be simmering with discontent even more then before. 

The two of them seemed to know each other, and Inari could spot similarities in their appearance. Maybe they were cousins?   
Familial relations aside, it was obvious that only one of the two was familiar with the world of exorcists, and it obviously bothered the darker haired of the two that he was being taught by Okumura-sensei. Okumura-sensei didn’t seem particularly happy about the arrangement either. Was that guilt in the teacher’s eyes? 

When nobody spoke up, the young teacher almost frantically dove back into his lecture, speaking rapidly as if to ensure nobody would have time to question him in between sentences. He talked about the goblins infesting the classroom he planned to use for the temptaint ritual, and how he would draw them out using fermented blood.   
“If you could all wait a moment whilst I set this up,” He stated. As he took the supplies for the ritual out of his brief case, he rediscovered his lost confidence and expertly went about setting up the preparation for the temptaint ritual. 

At this point, the boy with Mephisto lost his patience. He shot out of his seat, eliciting murmurs from his classmates as he approached their young teacher. Inari flinched at his expression. His eyebrows were set in a deep frown, the dim light of the classroom making his eyes look dark, and his lips were pulled back, slightly revealing his teeth, which made him seem rather dangerous. 

“Oi!” he growled out, his voice coming from low in his chest. Inari could feel the hairs on the back of her neck rise and her pulse quicken, every instinct in her body calling for her to flee immediately. “Explain yourself!” he cried out, a flash of long canines visible as he shouted at the stoic teacher. Okumura-sensei’s apparent calm was a stark contrast to the upset student before him. 

“I’m teaching a lesson, please return to your seat.” The statement was apparently what pushed the boy over the edge. “Stop screwing around!” he screamed. Inari reeled back in her seat, hitting her spine against the desk behind her. Her heart was slamming against her ribcage as she watched the exchange tensely. She was sure her tail would be stuck between her legs if it hadn’t been sealed away. 

An aura of power seemed to surround the boys in the front of the classroom, like the hot anger in the boy was burning around him physically in invisible flames. Inari shot a look around her, to see her classmates watching the exchange with a tense curiosity.

Nobody seemed to be as affected by the aura as she was. The fact that she could feel it surprised her greatly. Humans usually didn’t have much of a detectable aura, and she had assumed it was something exclusive to demons.   
“As I said earlier,” Okumura-sensei started calmly. “I became an exorcist two years ago. My training began when I was a young boy, at the age of seven.” He lowered his voice, so that the others in the classroom couldn’t hear him anymore. 

Inari strained to hear, but even she wasn’t able to. Whatever he said next hit the boy in front of him hard though; he looked as if the teacher had just slapped him across the face.   
“Why did you never tell me anything?” He cried out, grabbing Okumura-sensei’s arm. Everything seemed to slow down as the teacher dropped the vial of fermented blood in surprise, and they could only watch as it shattered on the ground, releasing its contents all over the floor. 

The boy staggered back, covering his nose with his arm, and Inari followed his example as the stench hit her. The smell was absolutely revolting and it was hard not to gag at it.   
Barely a second after the scent had spread through the room, the goblins burst out of their hiding places with loud cries. 

Demons, somebody cried out, and Inari couldn’t help but roll her eyes. ‘No shit,’ she muttered, jumping out of her seat. The students were in a panic, those without temptaints hiding behind the classmates who could see the creatures trashing the classroom in an effort to get to the blood. 

Inari concentrated on her demonic powers –as supressed as they were with the seal, she could still access them somewhat- and let her own aura surround her. Even if she wasn’t as strong as she could potentially be, her aura was still strong enough to induce fear in the average goblin and the smaller ones scattered away from her. 

Two of the larger green demons had decided that a little bit of animal blood wasn’t good enough for them, and made to attack Kamiki and Paku. Inari used the desk behind hers as a stepping-stone to jump over the demons and landed in front of the two girls. She turned to face the hobgoblins and revealed her teeth, which had grown slightly sharper as she focussed on her powers. 

“Back off!” she cried at the monkey-like creatures. To her surprise, her voice had changed, and as the sharp sound rang through the classroom, Inari couldn’t help but be reminded of the foxes’ alarm calls she had heard from the woods when she and Jun lived their grandma when she was a child.   
The hobgoblins backed away, obviously taken by surprise by the sudden flare of power. Inari wasn’t able to hold onto that power for more than a moment though. Fighting the seal was draining, and when her power fell, the two demons jumped right back at them.   
Izumo screamed, and Inari didn’t blame her. The two green demons were fast, they had sharp teeth, and they looked to be rather strong. A hit from either of them would be painful, to say the least. 

Before Inari could gather her aura again, two loud shots rang through the classroom, and the hobgoblins dissolved into a cloud of greyish black mist. Okumura-sensei was standing directly behind were the demons had been a moment before, silver gun still raised. 

“Everybody, out of the classroom!” He shouted. Inari hauled Paku and Izumo to their feet and ducked passed their teacher, who gave them cover by shooting all the goblins that dared approach them. When all the students were behind them he made for the door himself. 

“Normally goblins are weak, but they are large in number and they’ve been driven into a frightful rage,” He stated as he ushered them out of the classrooms. “I must apologize, this is my mistake.” He let out a sigh. “I’m still new at this.”   
‘No kidding,’ was all Inari could think as she passed him. She didn’t really like the teacher; he was too aloof for her liking. No fifteen year old should act like he was a middle-aged teacher with decades of experience over the rest of them. 

Inari was about to go over to the other girls when she noticed the dark glare Izumo was shooting in her direction. She was clearly not welcome to join the conversation, so she decided to lean against the wall next to the door as they waited for the last people to reach the front of the room.   
“If you could all wait outside while I exterminate these demons.” Okumura-sensei stated, holding the door open while his students exited. “You too Okumura-kun.”

Inari turned her head in the direction of the last people still in the classroom even before the boy with the sword kicked the door closed with a loud slam.   
“Okumura-kun?” she repeated softly. So the two were related. No wonder that the darker haired boy was so angry with their teacher, he was obviously very new to all of this. If Jun had kept the world of exorcists from her, she would’ve been furious with him too.

For a moment Inari wondered if Okumura-kun was like her. With his sharp teeth, pointed ears and that insane aura, it wasn’t that far of a reach to think he could have demon blood. Or he had gotten a temptaint from a particularly venomous Imp. She hoped it was the former though. Not only were imp temptaints a pain to deal with -they tended to cause sudden changes in body temperature and uncontrollable bouts of snickering- and it would suck for anyone to obtain one, it would be nice not to be the only one with demon blood too.

“What an incompetent teacher,” the boy with two-toned hair complained to his friends. The sudden sound of his voice shook Inari out of her musings and she shot a glance at her classmates again. She recognized those three from somewhere, and it irritated her greatly that she couldn’t place them.   
“It’s his first day, Bon. Cut him some slack” his smaller friend tried to placate him.  
“Yeah, and besides, this gives us a perfect moment to get to know our classmates,” the pink haired one added. With the looks he was shooting in Izumo and Paku’s direction it was obvious he wasn’t very interested in getting to know the two other boys waiting in the halls with them. 

Therefore, the fact that he threw a pick-up line at Inari when Izumo waved him off coolly, didn’t surprise her. What did surprise her was the pick-up line itself.   
“Have we met before, or did I just see your face in my dreams?” He leant nonchalantly against the wall, giving her a somewhat charming smile.   
“I think we have met before actually,” Inari shot back almost immediately.   
The boy looked genuinely surprised at her reaction,”  
“Really? But I-“  
“Leave the poor girl alone, Shima.” The boy with the faux-Mohawk interrupted him. 

The name sparked the recognition Inari had been racking her brain for.   
“You’re one of Shima Juuzo’s brothers,” she stated aloud. Shima Juuzo had been in the same cram class as Jun when he was in cram school, together with another girl who belonged to the same temple as him. Jun and Juuzo worked together often, even after their graduation. 

Now the other two boys approached too, curious because of the unexpected turn the conversation had taken.  
“I’m Yukimura Jun’s younger sister,” Inari clarified, and she watched as the three exchanged looks between each other.   
“You’re Yuki-onna? You’ve changed!” Shima cried out  
“You are one to talk,” Inari snorted, glancing at his pink hair meaningfully. Then the nickname registered.   
“Did you just call me an Ice-queen?” she asked, feeling somewhat insulted. “Where did that come from?”

The bald boy was the one who answered her question, because Shima’s cheeks turned as pink as his hair when he realized how he just shoved his foot into his mouth.   
“Uhm, Sorry about that, Yukimura-san. But you were really aloof when we met as kids, so...” 

After their grandmother had died six years back, Jun and Inari had stayed at the Toraya Ryokan -a traditional inn owned by the wife of the head-priest of previously mentioned temple- for a ridiculously low price. Jun had been very busy with making funeral arrangements, getting custody over Inari (which had not been an easy feat as he’d been only eighteen at the time), and finding an apartment near True Cross so he could continue his job as a lower first-class exorcist while taking care of Inari. He hadn’t been able to spend much time with Inari, and she had spent most of the time reading in their room. Jun had tried to encourage her to make friends with the kids from the temple, but she never did. 

“I had just lost my grandmother, you know.” Inari sighed. The bald boy flinched and muttered another quick apology. The tallest of the three stepped forward.  
“Let’s just start over. My name is Suguro Ryuji, the pink haired kid is Shima Renzo, and that’s Miwa Konekomaru. We’re looking forward to working with you.”   
The four of them talked for a bit after that, until Okumura-sensei finally let them back into the now wrecked classroom. A single goblin had been spared from whatever rampage had caused all the damage (were those burn marks?), and was anxiously writhing in Okumura-kun’s hands. The boy obviously wasn’t bothered, and grinned down at the creature. 

“Now, everybody without a temptaint, please step forward,” Okumura-sensei stated. Suguro, Paku and the kid in the grey hoodie whose name Inari still didn’t know stepped forward. “You too, Yukimura-san. “ He stated when Inari remained in her seat. 

The girl felt a pang of annoyance. She obviously did not need a temptaint because of her demon blood. She didn’t protest though and got out of her seat obediently.   
Paku was the first to receive her temptaint, and her hands shook a little as she offered her arm to something she couldn’t see.

“Keep it still, Rin” Yukio muttered as he watched the boy shallowly press the goblin’s claw into Paku’s skin. Grey Hoodie was next and Rin was a bit surer of himself this time, piercing the boy’s skin just a little faster while Okumura-sensei expertly cleaned the blood from Paku’s arm. 

The process was repeated another time with Suguro before it was Inari’s turn. As she offered her arm to the boy holding the goblin, dread settled in her gut. For some reason, she doubted this would go well. Rin gently pushed the demon’s claw through her skin, and as her blood welled up, the goblin freaked out. It struggled wildly to get out of Rin’s grip and ripped its claw back, resulting in a nasty cut on Inari’s lower arm. 

Inari almost screamed at the sudden pain and held her arm to her chest, watching as the goblin escaped out of Rin’s arm and disappeared through a half open air-vent.   
Okumura-sensei was quick to clean her arm with disinfectant and bandaged it up. 

“You should study the Elemental Chart,” He told her softly, and Inari almost slapped him across the face. She didn’t know which elemental chart he was referring to, -as there were multiple- but the question had made it sound like this had been some kind of experiment to determine what her base element was. She didn’t even know that her self yet!

“If you have a problem with my heritage, tell me now so I can request a transfer,” She hissed back.  
“That won’t be necessary.” Okumura-sensei turned to address the other people in the classroom. “We are finished for to day, Class dismissed.” 

Inari could barely contain her anger as she walked back to the secondary division girls’ dormitory. The way Yukio had treated her (and Rin for that matter, but it wasn’t her place to be mad about that) had really rubbed her the wrong way. She had expected some exorcist to see the demon heritage in a black and white way, but why did her homeroom teacher have to be one of them?

The young demon paused. It would not do to meet her roommate while she was in this mood, she’d need to calm down first. Taking a few deep breaths, she reached into her bag and took out her cell phone, dialled the familiar number and waited for the beep that signalled she could leave a message. 

“Hey Jun-nii, what can you tell me about Okumura Yukio and Rin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second chapter! I'm not very good at keeping to an update schedule, but I'll try and post every two weeks. If you enjoyed reading or have (constructive) critique, don't hesitate to leave kudos or comments!


	3. Chapter 3

“Inari-san, wake up, somebody’s calling you.”  
Inari groaned softly as Ishikawa Hiyori’s voice roused her out of her sleep. Hiyori was a nice girl with long brown hair and eyes so dark they looked almost black. She had insisted on using each other’s first names, and Inari couldn’t bring herself to mind the familiarity. It was Friday morning, her second day of attending True Cross Academy -Or it’s cram school at least; regular classes wouldn’t start until Monday- and Inari felt like it was way to early to be awake. Nevertheless, her phone was buzzing and it seemed like it wouldn’t stop doing so for a while either. 

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sat up, watching as her roommate pranced to the desk, where Inari had left her phone the night before. It stopped ringing for a moment, as Hiyori picked it up. It had taken too long answer, so now it had gone to voice mail. 

“How late is it anyway?” She muttered as she took the phone from Hiyori, right in time for the caller to try again.  
“Seven o’clock” Hiyori answered happily. How could somebody be that chirpy so early in the morning? “I’m going to take a quick shower, so just take that call, Inari-san,”  
“Thank you, Hiyori-san,” Inari replied. She waited for the girl to close the door to their shared room behind her before accepting the call. 

“Hello, sleeping beauty,” the somewhat weary voice of her brother rang through the speakers.  
“Morning Jun-nii,” Inari replied, a small smile gracing her face as she realized how tired her brother must be right now. “How was your flight?”  
“It was fine, some turbulence above Poland though. The whole plane kept shaking.”  
“Sounds scary,” Inari commented. She stood up and stretched, clenching her phone between her ear and her shoulder for a moment.  
“Not really,” Jun’s shrug was almost visible through the phone and Inari chuckled at that.  
“I’ve just arrived at my hotel, gonna catch a few hours of sleep before I’ll leave for the German HQ tomorrow.” He paused for a moment. “So how was your first day at the cram school?” 

Inari snorted, thinking back to the mess with the goblins as she glanced at her bandaged arm. Bad would be an understatement, but she didn’t want to worry her brother unless the first lesson actually set the tone for the rest of the school year. 

“My homeroom teacher is a year younger than I am,” She deadpanned instead. There was a beat of silence on the other side of the phone.  
“He’s what?” Jun asked, voice as dry as hers had been.  
“His name is Okumura Yukio, he’s a 15 year old exorcist apparently.” Inari still couldn’t fathom why anybody would let a kid that young become an exorcist, let alone a teacher.  
“Oh, you asked about him in your voice mail, didn’t you?”  
“Yeah”

On the other side of the call something creaked, and Inari imagined her older brother sitting down on his cheap hotel bed.  
“As far as I know, he’s a middle first class exorcist. I think his meisters are Doctor and Dragoon, but don’t quote me on that. He trained under the previous Paladin.”  
“Wow, seriously?” Inari actually felt impressed by that. She didn’t know much about the Exorcist who’d mysteriously died a few weeks back, but everybody always had been full of respect while talking about him.  
“Yeah, apparently the kid got a temptaint at a ridiculously young age, and as his guardian decided to step in, how he managed to involve the Paladin himself, I don’t know. His twin brother is oblivious though.”  
Inari thought about the scene Rin had caused the day before.  
“I think he used to be oblivious, actually,” she muttered. No wonder Rin had been so angry, if his twin really had kept something that big from him. Maybe Okumura-sensei had never planned to tell him, but was forced to when Rin got his temptaint. ‘Or when his powers awakened’ Inari mused quietly. 

“Anyway, you’ll never guess who my classmates are,” she stated cheerfully, walking around the room for a bit. If Jun found the sudden change of topic strange, he didn’t comment on it.  
“Oh, are you in the same class as Renzo?”  
“Yeah, how did you know?” Inari wondered, slightly disappointed that she wasn’t able to surprise him.  
“Juuzo and I still keep in touch you know,” Jun chuckled. “Apparently it caused quite a commotion at Myo-dha, Suguro-sama’s son went too.”  
“Hmm, I’ve talked to them for a bit, you wouldn’t believe what Shima-kun and Suguro-kun did to their hair.” 

The conversation quickly dissolved into gossiping about her newest classmates, and Inari was giggling like a little girl as she described Suguro’s hairstyle.  
“I better not find you with dyed hair when I get back to Japan, Nana-chan,” Jun warned teasingly.  
“You won’t, promise,” Inari laughed. She glanced at the alarm clock on Ishikawa’s nightstand; feeling a little shocked to see that fifteen minutes had passed while she was on the phone. Hiyori would probably be back soon, so she decided to ask something else that had been on her mind. 

“Hey, Jun-nii, is there anywhere on campus I could go to practise with my powers?” she wondered.  
“I’d say you should ask your teachers, there are more than enough training rooms in the cram school.” Jun replied. “Is something the matter?”  
“Okumura-sensei did not react very positively to me revealing my heritage, and I haven’t even told them who my father is exactly.” Inari sighed. “I don’t know how the other teachers will react, so I’d like options beside the training rooms in cram school.” 

Jun was quiet for a moment, as if mulling this new information over in his head.  
“The year before I went to Cram-school, the boys’ dormitory got moved to a different building. I don’t know whether it’s still there or not, but the old building became a place where kids would dare each other to go for tests of courage and things like that, you could try there if your teachers can’t help.”

Inari was about to reply when the door opened and Hiyori walked in.  
“I’m glad to hear you arrived safely, Nii-san,” Inari stated, switching to more formal language. The switch had become a code between them over the passed year, letting the other know that they weren’t able to speak about the exorcists’ world freely anymore because there were other people around.  
“I’ll call again tomorrow, Inari. Goodbye for now,” Jun replied.  
“Sleep well, Nii-san.” Inari said before ending the call. 

“Is your brother studying abroad?” Hiyori wondered. She wandered to her closet and took out a soft pink dress, some leggings and a nice, light blue cardigan to change into. Inari glanced at her duffel bags, which she had shoved underneath her desk last night, too tired to bother unpacking more than her pyjamas, a towel and some toiletries. Hiyori’s outfit was probably worth more than the contents of the two bags together. 

“Nah, he’s in Germany for his job.” Inari answered Hiyori’s question before kneeling down and grabbing her bags. Better unpack while she had the time to do so. “It’s why I transferred here for my second year, the school I went to before wasn’t a boarding school.” 

The first bag contained her clothes, the second one some of her other belongings. Inari had taken some of her manga and novels, her school equipment and some little trinkets she didn’t want to end up in the storage facility where everything else from their little apartment had ended up. 

There were already two sets of her school uniform in her closet -courtesy from the headmaster-but her own clothes had remained in her bag until now. With a sigh Inari got to work, folding t-shirts and the like, and hanging her dresses on the clothes hangers.  
“Why can’t you live with your parents?” Hiyori asked innocently. She knelt down next to the bag and carefully plucked out a white skirt, which she proceeded to hang next to the uniform skirts. 

Inari paused in her actions, hands hovering above the drawer at the bottom of the closet that she’d just deemed her sock/underwear drawer.  
“Nii-san is my legal guardian, we’re orphans,” she stated quietly. It wasn’t technically a lie, Jun was an orphan, and as Inari had never met her own father –She didn’t have any desire to meet him either- she considered herself one too. 

“Oh wow, that must be very rough,” Hiyori said. Her voice was subdued and she avoided Inari’s gaze.  
“I guess. I never knew my parents, and Jun and my grandmother have always been very good to me, so I don’t really-“ Inari stopped mid sentence. Saying she never missed her parents would be a lie. After all the stories she’d heard about her mother, she would have loved to meet the woman, and after learning about her heritage, she had fantasized about meeting somebody with powers like hers even if she did not want it to be her father.  
“It doesn’t matter,” Inari stated a bit more decisively. “Do you have any plans for today?” 

Hiyori shook her head, obviously very happy with the abrupt change of subject.  
“Not really,”  
“Could you show me around campus then? I had the first meeting of the World Religion Course yesterday, I missed the tour.” World Religion Course was the cover Mephisto Pheles had given Inari for the cram classes. ‘It’s actually quite smart,’ Inari thought to herself. Bringing books on demons back to the dorms would raise a lot less questions that way.  
-  
Inari was basically brimming with energy during Cram school. The morning she spent with Hiyori had been fun, even if the atmosphere had been awkward for a while when unpacking her bags. The mood had lightened up during the walk around campus. Hiyori had been a very good tour guide; pointing out the important sights, a few short cuts and quiet places you could use to study in peace.  
“Or make out with somebody, I don’t judge,” The girl had stated with a Cheshire grin.  
During their walk, Inari had spotted the abandoned dormitory. They didn’t stop, but at least she knew it wasn’t demolished now. 

Now she was waiting impatiently for the lesson in Demon Studies to end. It was the last lesson of the afternoon and Inari was basically bouncing in her seat. The teacher, Adachi-sensei, was an older man with a nice voice, but as he was discussing the demon kings –one of the first subjects Jun had told her about when she’d started to show interest in his work- Inari found it hard to focus. 

“I want you to read the first chapter of the text book for the next lesson,” Adachi-sensei stated. “Class-dismissed.”  
Inari waited for her classmates to leave class. Paku shot her a worried look, but let herself be led out by Kamiki. Neither of the girls had spoken to her since the day before, and Inari had the feeling it was mainly Kamiki’s doing. Shaking of that thought, Inari approached the teacher at his desk. 

“Adachi-sensei?” she started. The man looked up from the papers he was shoving into his briefcase.  
“Yes Yukimura-kun?” he asked, with a gentle smile on his face. Inari decided she liked the soft-spoken man.  
“I was wondering if you could perhaps teach me about fox-fire.” She looked up at him hopefully; he was her first choice because of the subject he taught. Adachi-sensei looked very troubled though. 

“You are part Kitsune, aren’t you?” He wondered, pointedly avoiding her question. Inari was pretty sure Okumura-sensei had already informed the other teachers of that fact, so it was a redundant question.  
“Not just part, sir. My father was one, so I guess you could say I’m second generation,” Inari corrected politely, although she felt her excitement slowly sinking down into her stomach, settling on her guts like a heavy stone. “My demon-heart was awakened a year ago, but as it’s still sealed, I don’t know much about my powers yet.”  
“I can teach you about the different kinds of fox-fire, but I don’t know how to train you in using yours, I’m sorry.” 

Inari bit her lip as if that would help her bite back the disappointment.  
“Do you think one of the other teachers would be able-“  
“I’m sorry Yukimura-san, I’m afraid most of us have more knowledge on killing demons than on training them.” Adachi-sensei interrupted her.  
“I understand.” Inari bowed down to pick up her bag from the floor and let out a deep sigh. She’d have to figure it out on her own then. 

“If you have time, I could help you find out something about fox-fire though.”  
Inari looked up to the teacher, who smiled at her kindly.  
“I’d like that,” she decided. 

“Come on, there are some books on Shinto demons in the teachers’ lounge.” The man finished packing up his class-materials and then led Inari through the maze of hallways that was the cram school.  
Just like every other part of the school, the teacher’s lounge didn’t have windows. The room was lit by wall-lamps instead, giving it a strangely cosy feeling. There were a few other teachers, sitting at their desks and preparing their next lessons. The brown haired teacher with an eye-patch looked up and narrowed his good eye as Adachi-sensei and Inari entered, but did not comment. 

Inari shivered at his intense gaze. The man hadn’t taught any of their classes yet, but as they had only had four different subjects since cram school started that was no guarantee he wouldn’t. Still, she hoped he taught upperclassmen, there was something undeniably off about him, as if he was here on a mission that had nothing to do with training upcoming exorcists. 

Shaking off the odd feeling, Inari returned her attention to the teacher who had escorted her. The man talked about the books kept in the teachers’ lounge with a gentle sort of excitement Inari recognized as something most elder people had when asked about something they knew a lot about. 

Adachi-sensei gestured for Inari to take place at his desk and then walked over to one of the many bookcases lining the wall. He searched the covers for a moment before he found the book he was looking for. Together they paged through the book until they came upon a chapter on the fox demons. Inari quickly grabbed a notebook and a pen out of her bookcase and she was about to start taking notes when Adachi-sensei stopped her. 

“You can borrow it for the weekend,” He stated kindly. “I’ll write your name down so that we know you have it in your possession okay?”  
Inari nodded. “Thank you, sensei!” She put the book in her bag, careful not to damage the cover or fold the pages, and got up from the desk.  
“Thank you for your time, I’ll put my time to good use this weekend,” Inari stated. She gave a quick bow before leaving the teachers’ lounge and making her way out of the cram school. 

On the way back to her dorm, Inari passed the abandoned boys’ dormitory. She put a hand on her bag, where the book lay underneath the leather. She’d put her weekend to good use indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, and I'd love to read your feedback! 
> 
> I just found out that Japan does not have daylight saving time, so the time difference would actually be seven hours instead of eight. Oh well¯\\_(ツ)_/¯. If there are mistakes please point them out, as I did not have much time to edit.


	4. Chapter 4

Inari felt incredibly grateful that True Cross Academy did not use the traditional “Monday to Saturday morning” schedule most Japanese high schools followed. Of course that was mostly to grant the children of rich parents the opportunity to go home for social gatherings over the weekend, but it really worked in Inari’s favour today. 

She had waved off Hiyori twenty minutes earlier, as the other girl’s parents expected her back home because of some kind of charity event that was to be hold at her father’s company. The girl had grumbled about it for a while (“School hasn’t even started properly and they’re calling me back already!”), but did leave at twelve o’clock like she was supposed too. Inari had decided to wait for fifteen minutes or so, to see if the brown haired girl would come back to get something she had forgotten. 

When Hiyori didn’t come back, Inari shot into action. She grabbed her simple blue backpack -which she mostly used when Jun took her hiking through the forest- and gathered the stuff she thought she needed. She had glanced at the book Adachi-sensei had loaned her the night before, and made a game plan. She had decided to try meditation at first, to see if she could feel what the energy she usually used when forming her aura actually was. 

Inari grabbed the small scented candles she had brought to make her side of the dorm more her own from her desk, quickly filled up a water bottle, and put on a bracelet with little bells. It had been the last birthday gift her grandmother had gotten her before passing away, and it made her feel closer to the late woman. She hoped the candles and the bracelet would help her concentrate, because meditating wasn’t really her thing. She carefully put Adachi-sensei’s book in her backpack too. 

On her way out of the dorm, Inari quickly grabbed a snack from the cafeteria. She knew it would have been healthier to sit down for an actual lunch, but she was too excited to get started to take the time to do so. 

Munching on her melon bread, Inari made her way to the abandoned dormitory. She had taken a page out of Yamada-kun’s book, and wore a dark hoodie with the hood up, covering most off her head. Even if Campus was somewhat empty on Saturday, she did not want to be recognized while sneaking into buildings that were probably off limits. 

The sight of the dormitory gave her some pause. She had seen it from a distance the day before, but now that she was up close, she could really feel the desolate atmosphere coming from the building. The dormitory didn’t look half bad. Sure, it was a dirty, the brickwork was crumbling at some places, and the window frames could really do with a new layer of paint, but it was in good shape otherwise; Inari didn’t see any broken windows or rotting wood in the framework. 

What gave the building such a creepy feeling was how empty and dark all the windows looked. None of the windows were framed by curtains, and there were no knick-knacks or plants in the windowsills. There were just no signs of life. 

Inari squared her shoulders and made her way over to the main door. She carefully felt the handle, and found that the door was locked. No surprise there. Still, Inari couldn’t help the frown forming. She didn’t expect the front door to be unlocked, but she didn’t want to break one of the windows either. The sound of breaking glass would draw attention from the few people that were still around, and the risk of hurting herself was pretty high too. 

According to Jun, the dorm was used for tests of courage every now and then. There should be an easy way in if that were true, right? Hoisting her backpack up a little higher, Inari walked around the building, trying to find another point of entrance. The backside of the dorm did not face a road, so that would provide her with some coverage from curious eyes. 

A few minutes later, Inari found an unlocked emergency exit.  
“Yes!” She laughed before slipping inside. The door creaked and groaned in protest as she pulled it closed behind her. It had obviously not been used for a while. 

When safely inside the building, Inari pulled down her hoodie, letting her ponytail fall down to her shoulders, and she quickly ran a hand through her bangs. She took a moment to explore the ground floor. There were no dorm rooms; the entrance hall, a large kitchen, and the dining area took up the space instead. 

To Inari’s surprise, there was hardly any dust, and although there were some questionable stains on the wall, the floor looked almost sparkly clean, as if somebody was still cleaning the place regularly. The plastic chairs surrounded the dining tables neatly, and the tables themselves looked perfectly white, as if they were brand new. The weirdest thing though, was the vending machine. The machine was lit, and fully stocked. Upon closer inspection, Inari found that the dates on the products inside were all later in the year, as if it was recently refilled. 

Inari looked around in confusion before movement in the kitchen caught her eye. Her heart hammered in her chest, she had not expected to run into other living beings today.  
“Wasn’t this place supposed to be abandoned?” She wondered aloud. Nobody answered her, but another flash of motion caught her eyes. Maybe a demon had made this place into its den? The girl let out some of her power, creating the demonic aura that would scare away lower class demons. 

Inari was pretty sure it could only be a lower class demon, as the Academy had some very intricate wards to keep out higher-class demons. Inari had definitely felt them when she entered the grounds. Director Pheles had granted her unlimited access though, and explained that lower class demons like coal-tar could get through on their own, because they generally were not a danger. Inari shuddered slightly at the thought of the little black demons. They looked kind of cute from a distance, but something about them always freaked her out when they came too close, and flicking them away from her had become a bit of a bad habit. 

Now that she thought about it, the lack of coal-tars in the building was very strange too. An abandoned building should be the perfect place for the little dust-possessing demons, and she had seen them gather in large swarms in other desolate places before, but the dorm was suspiciously empty of them.  
Perhaps it had something to do with whatever was in the kitchen? 

Inari set her backpack down on one of the tables and snuck towards the kitchen doors, praying under her breath that whatever was in there wasn’t malicious.  
She gently pushed the doors open further, to make the crack between them large enough to get through. She kept her guard up, scanning the large room for people or demons large enough to have caught her eyes. 

To her surprise, she didn’t find anyone, but there was a fruit-bowl with some apples, and shiny kitchen equipment hung from the wall next to the industrial sized stove.  
“This place is definitely not abandoned,” she muttered to herself.  
**It’s not,”** a new voice confirmed. Inari almost jumped out of her skin, and whirled around to face the owner of the voice. 

A small purple satyr-like demon was standing on the countertop to her right, it’s hairy arms crossed defiantly across his chest.  
**“You are not supposed to be here, Kogitsune-san,”** he squeaked out. It took a moment for Inari to compose her self. It would make sense the building looked lived in if there was a stove spirit who’d made it his personal territory.  
“You are right, and I humbly ask you to forgive me for my intrusion,” Inari started, bowing to emphasize her respect for the demon and his boundaries. Right now he was of a higher position than she was –emphasized by him calling her ‘little miss Fox’- and she did not want to anger him further after entering his den uninvited.  
“I merely wished to find a place to train my fox-fire.” 

This piqued the demon’s interest and it uncrossed its arms.  
**"Another demon-student? And fox-fire! Are you a fire-kin like me?”** he asked somewhat excitedly. For a moment Inari was stuck on his words. “Another demon-student”?  
“I do not know yet,” she confessed, not commenting on his slip. “Fox-fire is a general term for the powers of Kitsune, and I do not know whether fire is my base element yet.”  
The purple demon frowned at that. **"Did your creator tell you nothing?”**  
He sounded offended on her behalf, which made Inari smile softly. 

“I am of mixed blood.” She started. The demon’s eyes widened in surprise at that, children of Kitsune were very rare after all. “I’ve never met my father -I don’t even know if he’s aware he has a child-, and my mother was human.” She explained. “My demon blood had been sealed away, and while part of it awakened on my fifteenth birthday, I still know little about my heritage.” 

There was another moment of silence between the two of them, in which Inari prayed honesty had been the right option. The little creature looked innocent enough, but she had the feeling he could be quite troublesome if he wanted too.  
**“If you give me your full name, I shall allow you to train here.”** The purple demon decided eventually. Inari bit her lip at that, giving out a full name was a pretty big deal for demons, but she wasn’t sure she could give him the answer he was looking for.  
**“I am Ukobach, Spirit of the stove. Tell me your name, Kogitsune-san”** Ukobach stated when he sensed her unease.  
“I-I am Yukimura Inari, daughter of a Kitsune,” Inari stuttered in reply, quickly bowing again. 

**“It will do for now,” Ukobach muttered.**  
Inari smiled at him happily.  
“Thank you, Ukobach,” She stated, before turning around and skipping out of the kitchen. She did not hear the demon cry out: **“Wait! I meant in my kitchen!”**

-

After scooping up her backpack, Inari made her way to the second floor. The building was relatively clean here too, although the floors were not as thoroughly swept as on the ground floor, and there were more suspicious stains on the walls near the ceiling. She threw open the first door that wasn’t locked and entered the dorm room. 

It looked quite similar to her own door room, just a lot more old fashioned, and entirely empty. The desks and bookshelves were bare, and there weren’t even any mattresses on either of the beds. Deciding to just sit down on the floor instead (wooden floor or wooden bedframe didn’t make much of a difference to her either way), Inari opened up her backpack and spread the items out in front of her. She wasn’t really sure how to go about this. Her main plan was to imitate those superhero movies where the main character sought out a connection to their element by meditating intensely. 

Adachi-sensei’s book had listed a lot of elements, but Inari had already determined that some elements it named -like River and Ocean, or earth, mountain and forest- belonged together under a shared base element. 

The young Kitsune wasn’t entirely sure how to continue after lighting her candles and taking a sip of water, so she grabbed the book again. Of course it was not a “How to find your elemental power” manual, but it might be useful to her anyway.  
She flipped over to chapter 10, which was devoted to Kitsune, and found the passage she had left of last night. 

_Capturing a Kitsune is dangerous. Freedom is very important to these demons, and Kitsune are likely to kill you when they manage to escape, or even when you release them. The only way to safely capture them is to take their Hoshi no Tama. Hoshi no Tama are small, white or golden balls that Kitsune hide between their tails. When this star ball is taken from a Kitsune it will be compliant and will agree to practically anything asked of them. As Kitsune are very prideful creatures (see §10.5) they are unlikely to break their promises even after getting the Hoshi no Tama back in their possession, as this would be dishonourable. It was believed this dependency on the Hoshi no Tama is because it holds part of their powers. Newer insights state that they might be the kitsune’s very visible version of the Demon Heart, which hold the very essence of their fox-fire. (Riesinger, Bishop et al. 1935) Therefor the Hoshi no Tama is a kitsune’s greatest weakness, which may explain why their tails have developed to be less vulnerable.”_

Inari’s hand shot to her chest, where her necklace rested against her sternum. She knew the ball pendant was important to her demon side, but she had never thought about it being her actual demon heart. She brought the little white orb into her vision. Inside the ball, white mist swirled around a tiny glimmer of golden light, and a sliver of parchment with the kanji for ‘seal’ on it hugged the outside. This little ball, barely larger then a big marble was her greatest weakness? Suddenly she felt nauseous, she had quite literally been wearing her heart out in the open for most of her life. 

She slid the necklace underneath her hoodie, taking a deep breath to calm herself down a bit. The realisation hadn’t been pleasant, but Inari was kind of glad she knew now. She was going to have to be a whole lot more careful with her necklace. For now, she decided to focus on her original goal, finding her powers. She quickly put the book on the bed and turned her attention to the flickering candles. 

‘I wonder how this works,’ she thought to herself. ‘Do I need to channel my emotions or something? Or maybe breathing exercises will do the trick.’ The problem was, Inari wasn’t much of a meditator, as she always had a lot of trouble when trying to calm her racing thoughts. After roughly twenty minutes of trying to tame her thoughts, Inari gave up.  
Things like that looked a whole lot easier in the movies. 

She grabbed her opened water bottle and took a quick sip. This wasn’t working. As she bent forward to put the bottle back in front of her, she felt her necklace move underneath her shirt, and a thought hit her.  
If the Hoshi no Tama was her demon heart, that was where her powers came from. She closed her eyes and touched the orb through the cotton of her hoodie, concentrating on the swirling mist, imagining the small golden light inside it granting her power. A flash of energy rushed through her veins, surprising Inari so much she lost her concentration, and it was gone before she could blink.

Despite the loss of concentration, the young woman felt elated. There was definitely something of her fox-fire left to access despite the seal. Inari took a few deep breaths and tried again, imagining she was drawing energy out of the orb. The flash of energy came back, and she tried to direct it to the items in front of her. For a moment, it seemed like nothing would happen, it felt like she was pushing against a concrete wall. 

Inari tried to draw out a little more energy and pushed her hands out in front of her, pouring all her strength into pushing through the barrier. . A blast of wind burst from her hands, throwing over the water bottle and slinging the candles against the bedframe, before dissipating again. Luckily the flames had been blown out in the process, before they could set the room on fire.

Inari almost collapsed in exhaustion. The short burst of fox-fire had taken up a lot of energy, and she felt her eyes droop. Maybe she should close them for a while. She sluggishly reached for her empty backpack to use it as a make shift pillow.

She had planned to catch her breath, maybe take a powernap and then continue, but when Inari opened her red-brown eyes again, it was already getting dark outside. Panic struck, and Inari frantically searched around for her phone. When she found it underneath her backpack, she pulled up the home-screen. 

“Half past seven?” She cried out. Dinner was served from half past six to eight in the girls’ dormitory cafeteria, which meant she would have to run to get there in time. She quickly gathered her stuff, groaning slightly at the water on the outside of her bottle as she shoved it into her bag. She was already down the stairs, half way to the emergency exit she’d used to sneak in earlier that afternoon, when she realized she had left the book in the empty dorm room. 

Cursing under her breath, Inari swivelled around on the balls of her feet and sprinted back to the stairs. She had to take a moment to catch her breath when she reached the second floor, and then quickly threw open the door to her training room. The book was lying on the bed innocently. She was about to stuff it into her backpack when she remembered that she had a wet bottle in it. 

Inari re-zipped her backpack and clutched the book underneath her arm instead, rushing back to the stairs. She took the steps two at a time, and used her free hand to grab the rail so she could turn swiftly to run down the next set of stairs. Instead, she ran smack into somebody’s broad chest. 

The other person managed to catch his balance at lightning speed and grabbed her arm. Inari dropped her book, but managed to stay upright. They were saved from a nasty fall down the stairs.  
Inari looked up to see Okumura-kun looking down at her in genuine surprise. (A look she probably mirrored perfectly).

“What the hell are you doing here?” they cried out at the same time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this far! This is a bit later than i'd planned, but uni is kicking my ass at the moment (9 hour lab-days are exhausting) and I got behind in editing a bit. If you spot any mistakes, please point them out!


	5. Chapter 5

For a moment, Inari and Okumura-kun just stared at each other.   
“Yukio and I live here,” Okumura-kun stated, letting go of Inari’s arm.   
“You live here?” The girl repeated, staring at him in disbelief. A small frown formed on Okumura-kun’s face.   
“That’s what I just said, isn’t it?” he asked, a slightly impatient tone creeping into his voice. Inari shot a look at her dirty surroundings. There were some cracks lining the wall, and though the place was relatively clean, she would never be comfortable living here by herself. 

“You never answered the question,” Okumura-kun said, staring down Inari with an intensity that made her shiver. How the hell were his eyes that blue?   
“What are you doing here?”  
“Training,” Inari replied shortly. She bent down to pick up her book, and felt a rush of relief when she found the cover had not been damaged by its fall. She didn’t want to return the book damaged to Adachi-sensei on Monday. She blinked a bit at the faint feeling that grabbed her as she got upright again, but it was fading before she started to worry about it. Probably moved up too fast.

She tried to duck around Okumura-kun so she could go down the stairs, but the boy grabbed her arm again.   
“Hey, we’re not done here!” He protested. “You can’t just leave.”   
“Why not?” Inari bit back, trying to shake of his hand. He wasn’t hurting her, but he had a strong grip on her wrist, holding her in place and it made her feel trapped. 

“Because we can’t have students breaking and entering, Yukimura-san.” A new voice stated calmly. Inari shivered slightly and cursed in her head for not thinking about the possibility of somebody else being there. Okumura-kun had said he lived here with Yukio after all. She glanced past Okumura-kun, to see the emotionless face of her teacher. She felt the colour draining from her face. 

“I think we should report this too Sir Pheles, don’t you Nii-san?” he asked his brother.  
“Eh, should we?” Okumura-kun brought a hand up to scratch his neck, obviously unsure of his brother’s decision.   
“Please don’t!” Inari cried out, her heart was thumping in her throat. Getting caught by Okumura-kun -another student- was one thing. Getting caught by a teacher however…  
The emotionless mask slid of Okumura-sensei’s face. His eyebrows furrowed together and his lips were drawn into a thin line.   
“Why shouldn’t I? You were caught trespassing in an area of limits to students, I think that should be reported.” His anger was different from his brother’s, Inari noted. There was no burning aura of explosive power, just a cold expression and a tight voice. 

Depending on Okumura-kun’s chosen punishment, this could mean a world of trouble for Inari. She didn’t think she would be expelled if Mephisto found out about this, but he would most definitely contact her brother and Inari could not decide what would be worse. She hated the idea of letting her brother down like that before regular classes even started. The panic was making her feel light-headed again.   
“I didn’t know this building was still in use,” she tried to defend herself.   
“That does not make your presence here any better,” Okumura-sensei shot back. 

Okumura-kun let go of her hand and walked down the stairs to his brother.  
“Don’t you think that’s a bit harsh, Yukio?” he asked, placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder. Okumura-sensei tensed up, apparently not sure how to react to his brother. Meanwhile, Inari grabbed the rail to keep herself steady, as her vision was getting blurry and her knees buckled. She took a few deep breaths, but her vision didn’t clear. She was vaguely aware of Okumura-sensei calling her name a moment before she collapsed at the top of the stairs. 

When Inari opened her eyes again, Okumura-kun and Okumura-sensei were hovering above her face. She was lying on her back, her head on her backpack once again, and something was propped underneath her feet to keep her legs up.   
“Are you with us again, Yukimura-kun?” Okumura-sensei asked softly.   
“You’re the second girl to pass out on us today,” Okumura-kun added.   
Inari nodded at Okumura-sensei’s question -ignoring his brother’s strange remark- and then tried to prop herself up with her elbow. Which proved to be a bad idea, as the world swirled around her at the movement. Okumura-sensei immediately put a hand on her shoulder to push her back down. “Don’t get up yet,” he warned her. His voice was gentle and patient, a complete 180 from the anger that had tainted it before.   
Inari obeyed, focussing on her breathing.

“When did you last eat?” Okumura-sensei asked after a few moments had passed. His glasses had slid down his nose a little, and he absently pushed them back up.   
“I had some melon bread at lunch,” Inari croaked out. Her mouth was dry and she felt like she had swallowed sandpaper.   
“That’s all you ate? You must be starving!” Okumura-kun cried out.   
“It’s longer than you should go without eating a proper meal, but it shouldn’t cause fainting just yet,” his brother interjected.   
“Are you still feeling light-headed?”   
Inari shook her head. She still felt somewhat weak, but not like she would fall over again if she got up. 

The twins were very careful when they helped Inari down the stairs. Okumura-sensei had taken her backpack, and kept a close eye on her, while Okumura-kun draped her arm over his shoulders to give her some extra support. When they reached the ground floor, Okumura-sensei grabbed one of the plastic cafeteria chairs and directed Okumura-kun to let Inari sit down. 

When Okumura-sensei turned around, Inari caught a glimpse of his watch.   
“Five to eight?” she gasped. She tried to get up, but Okumura-kun pushed her back down into the chair.   
“What do you think you’re doing?” He asked her, a serious look on his face.   
“I’ve missed dinner at the dorm,” Inari groaned. “If I go now, I can still get something from the convenience store.” 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to rush to a store right now, Yukimura-san,” Okumura-sensei protested. “I would feel better if you stayed here for a while.”   
“Do you have enough food for me to have dinner too than?” Inari asked sharply.   
Before he could answer, there was a loud rattling sound behind Inari, startling the three of them. They turned around just in time to see the panel between the kitchen and the food counter closing roughly, three bowls of steaming hot udon on a platter in front of it. 

There was a moment of silence in which Okumura-sensei and Okumura-kun stared at each other, before Okumura-sensei drew his gun and stalked towards the kitchen.   
“Hey, stop it!” Inari cried out as he kicked in the door, Okumura-kun following on his heels.   
She quickly followed the boys, worried for the little stove spirit hiding out in the kitchen.

When she caught up with the twins, Okumura-sensei was holding Ukobach at gunpoint, finger lying against the trigger-guard of his silver gun.   
“Get out!” the purple demon growled. “You are not allowed in my territory!”   
Okumura-kun reeled back, confusion clouding his features, but he didn’t comment. Inari didn’t have time to wonder whether he’d been able to hear Ukobach’s words, because Okumura-sensei moved his finger from the trigger guard to the trigger itself, getting ready to shoot. 

Inari shot into action. In a quick move she thrust her hand against his elbow, forcing the gun to point somewhere above Ukobach’s head just as Okumura-sensei pulled the trigger. The bullet ended up stuck in ceiling.  
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she cried out, getting in front of him. She deliberately placed herself in between the demon and the dragoon. “Ukobach over here just cooked all of us a meal, what right do you have to barge into his territory and take a shot at him?” 

“I’ve been cooking for those two for the past three days,” Ukobach pointed out, throwing a very sour look in Okumura-sensei’s direction. Inari’s angry expression tightened even further as she relayed the message from the demon to her teacher.   
“If I were you, I’d apologize and get the hell out of the kitchen,” She stated, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “And you better ask for permission next time you enter.”

Both boys looked at each other with a dumbfounded expression, then nodded at her, and they obediently left the room. As soon as the door closed behind them, they started bickering, although Inari couldn’t hear what they were shouting at each other exactly.

“I am not happy with your behaviour either, Kogitsune-san,” Ukobach pointed out, although he had visibly relaxed when the twins were out of the room. “You should have trained in here, so I could have kept an eye on you. Outside the kitchen is not my territory.”  
Inari chuckled wryly at that.   
“Figured as much.” She sighed. “I’m sorry about that, I guess I was just over excited.” Her stomach rumbled and she put a hand to it as if that would muffle the sound.   
“Have you at least found your element?”   
A whole new sense of dread washed over Inari as she recalled the burst of wind that had fought it’s way around her. She had been too exhausted to realize what it had meant but her mind was clear enough to realize the implications now.  
“Yes,” she started softly. “I take after my father, my element is that of Wind.”

Ukobach reeled back at that, and even though she expected it, the demon’s reaction hurt. He had noticed her flinch, and tried to recover quickly.   
“Go and eat. Do not train without Demon supervision anymore, you are lucky you only exhausted yourself today.”   
Inari nodded at that, leaving the kitchen without saying a word. She clapped her hands together and gave Ukobach a quick bow in thanks for the meal he had made for her, before closing the door and approaching the table Okumura-kun and Okumura-sensei were sitting at. 

As she took the last bowl, she couldn’t help but laugh at the dish Ukobach had chosen. “Kitsune-udon” she muttered to the bowl before muttering a quick ‘thanks for the meal’. While she was eating, nobody spoke, and Inari couldn’t say she minded. She wasn’t dumb; she knew Okumura-sensei would not let the issue slide, especially not after she had just chastised him. 

Inari was halfway through her meal when Okumura-sensei spoke up.   
“Don’t think you are of the hook Yukimura-kun.”   
Inari kept quiet for a moment, silently prodding her food with her chopsticks and preparing for the worst.   
“I could give you a two weeks’ suspension for your transgression.” He continued calmly, making her drop the piece of fried tofu she had just picked up. It splashed back into the broth, splattering droplets of it over the table, but Inari paid it no mind. 

“You can’t do that!” She cried out, looking at him at wide eyes. Was he actually serious about this? Okumura-sensei just stared back at her through his glasses, not giving her any reaction at all besides his angry expression. She shot a quick look to his brother, but Okumura-kun had decided to stay out of it, looking very, very uncomfortable with the argument.   
“I’ll loose my Scholarship,” she whispered eventually, the panic churning in her stomach making her loose her appetite entirely. 

The director had been very clear on that, any kind of behaviour that could result in a suspension would lead to the immediate and permanent loss of any of the scholarships True Cross Academy offered. There was no way Jun could pay her tuition by himself, and with the cram school taking up her extra time, she wouldn’t be able to get a job to help out either. Being suspended would mean she’d have to drop out. Inari glanced at Okumura-sensei again, but he was as unreadable as ever. She felt like crying.

“You’re here on a scholar ship?” Inari had been so focused on her teacher, she had almost forgotten Okumura-kun was still sitting at the table too.   
“That means you’re really smart like Yukio, right?” Okumura-kun continued excitedly. There was something of an admiring expression on his face.  
“That’s right,” Okumura-sensei confirmed. When Inari looked up, there was a gleam in his eyes that she didn’t like. “Yukimura-kun had to take the transfer-exams to get into the second year. Those are not easy. For her to score high enough for a full scholarship…” he trailed off, shot a look between Inari and Okumura-kun and smirked. 

“You know what? If you manage to tutor Okumura-kun this entire semester, I’ll consider this matter handled.”

The next afternoon, Inari was waiting for her ‘student’ in the west library. As the regular school year hadn’t even started yet, it had not been hard to find an empty table to study at. She had taken her own unfinished homework for Demon Studies so that they could work on it together, and grabbed the Shinto demon book to study up on Kitsune some more. 

“Yukimura!” Okumura-kun stated happily as he approached the table Inari was sitting at. He was wearing his uniform -just like Inari- but the slightly loosened tie and the chain running from his belt to his back pocket gave him a rebellious look.  
“Hey Okumura-san,” she greeted him. He paused at that and scratched the back of his head, apparently feeling a bit uncomfortable.   
“Rin is fine, mind if I call you Inari?” the boy said as he sat down next to her. Inari shook her head even as she fought down a blush.  
“That’s fine,” she replied, feeling a little flustered with the informality of his request. She had only met the boy four days ago after all…

Rin smiled a little brighter and then opened his bag. He pulled out the homework due tomorrow as well as a set of brightly coloured books, and spread them out on the table.

“Children’s books?” Inari wondered as she picked up the one on top of the small pile. The title read “The simple book of Japanese Gods”.   
She wasn’t sure how much she would have to teach the boy (Okumura-sensei was way too confident in his assumption she would hate tutoring his older brother) but this did not bode well. 

Rin’s ears turned a bright red with the blush that also stained his cheeks.   
“Yukio thinks they’d make studying easier for me,” he muttered, face turned away from Inari. The girl placed the book back on the pile. “That’s kinda mean,” She thought to herself. 

She shot Rin a look, but the boy was still avoiding her gaze in embarrassment.   
“Well, I think we should go about this differently.” Inari decided, pushing the books towards him.   
“You got your temptaint pretty recently right?” With the way he’d been acting around cram school it had been more of a rhetorical question, but Rin answered anyway.   
“Got it about two weeks ago.” 

“Did you know about the True Cross Order before that?”   
“No.” For a moment, Rin’s face turned harsh and angry and although the expression disappeared about as soon as it had appeared, Inari shuddered a little at how much it resembled Yukio’s anger from the day before. They were twins all right. 

“I knew my old man was an ‘exorcist’, but I didn’t believe demons actually exist.” Another wry expression crossed Rin’s face. “Got proven terribly wrong on that front.” 

“Then I think we should start with the way the Order operates,” Inari said.  
“You need to understand what you’re getting into if you really want to become an exorcist. Personally I think that’s more important than knowing about all the Japanese deities or Bible stories right now.”   
“I know the Bible stories already,” Rin complained. “We were raised in a monastery.” 

Inari paused at that and almost asked him about his home life before remembering she was there to tutor him on schoolwork.   
“So exorcism,” she started awkwardly.  
She opened her notebook to an empty page a shuffled her chair a little closer to Rin.   
“There are five different kinds of exorcism you can study at True Cross, called Meisters,” She said.   
“You’ve got the Dragoon Meister, people who use that style fight with guns and long range weapons,” She wrote down the word with a mechanical pencil and doodled a little gun next to it.

“Yukio is a dragoon then, isn’t he?” Rin asked, tapping the table. Inari nodded in reply. “He’s a doctor too, otherwise he wouldn’t be teaching Anti-demon pharmacy.” She wrote down doctor underneath Dragoon. “Doctor meisters are pretty self explanatory, they mostly treat temptaints and apply first aid when needed.”

Inari continued explaining the meisters in that fashion, and Rin seemed to be keeping up pretty well too. She had to repeat herself a few times, or rephrase what she’d been saying, but at the end of the study session, Inari had managed to explain the five meisters, the exorcist ranking system and they had finished their homework. 

Perhaps this punishment wasn’t so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like the way this chapter turned out, so I hope you do too! Please leave kudos or comments, I love to hear your thoughts!


	6. Chapter 6

Inari developed a routine in the next two weeks. She went to regular classes in the morning, cram school in the afternoon, and spent time doing homework with her roommate Hiyori at night. She would have time for herself on Saturdays, which she mostly used to train summoning her fox fire under Ukobach’s supervision (he couldn’t help her much, but he made sure she didn’t push passed her limits and made her food), and tutored Rin on Sunday afternoon. She had never expected to enjoy said routine as much as she did, even if it had taken her a while to get used to calling Jun instead of speaking with him over dinner. 

Inari didn’t have much time to feel alone because of how busy she was with school though, and Hiyori was actively trying to get her to join the small group of friends the girl had gathered in her first school year. Even though Inari did not come from the same background (Most of Hiyori’s friends were the children of businessmen her father knew) she got along with the other girls just fine. 

Having the adjustment to True Cross Academy go so smoothly put her in a good mood, and Inari went to cram school a little earlier that Monday. She hoped she’d have some time to talk to Rin and Shiemi before class started. Shiemi had joined the cram class the Monday after what Inari had dubbed the ‘dorm debacle’ and mostly stuck to Rin and Okumura-sensei. She was a nice blonde girl who had the little quirk of wearing her kimono instead of the standard uniform. It had taken a couple of days, but eventually Shiemi had gotten over her shyness and opened up to Inari as well. 

Rin was early for the lesson too for once, which was a pretty rare occasion. Inari had had to help him with several extra worksheets he’d gotten for being late during their study sessions. For both regular classes and cram school. 

“You’re early today,” Inari remarked, walking up to the desk Rin and Shiemi shared after putting her bag down on her own.  
“Yukio’s going to give back the test, I want to know how I’ve done,” Rin replied, looking up to her with a small grin on his face. It had surprised Inari how much Rin smiled at first, as she didn’t know many people who were that cheerful all of the time and it had made her somewhat suspicious. The positivity did seem genuine most of the time though, so she never questioned the boy. 

“We’ve worked on it so it should be fine,” Inari shrugged. Thinking back on the study session she had thrown two days before the test, they probably could have studied harder, -as they both hadn’t been very motivated and ended up talking about other things- but she was pretty sure Rin would at least pass. 

“What about you Shiemi?” Rin asked, turning to the blonde. Shiemi fidgeted in her seat as the conversation was suddenly focused on her.  
“I think I did well on this one.” She said. “It’s my specialty after all!”  
“Ah, your family owns the exorcist supply shop right?” Rin wondered. Inari raised an eyebrow; the boy had talked at length about how Yukio had taken him along on the mission to help Shiemi at the supply shop that first weekend. He already knew the answer to that question.

“Yeah, Grandma taught me all about plants the plants we sell, and their uses,” Shiemi answered happily oblivious to the oddness of Rin’s question. 

Before Inari could comment on it herself, Okumura-sensei entered the classroom. She quickly went back to her seat and waited for him to start class.  
“Now, I’ll just hand back the results to your recent test,” Okumura-sensei stated, holding up the papers for the students to see.  
“Shima-kun,” Shima went up to the teacher to receive his test, before walking back while Okumura-sensei called for Kamiki. 

Inari doodled in the margin of her notebook while waiting for Okumura-sensei to call on her, she had the feeling he’d put her test on the bottom of the small pile. She didn’t pay much attention to the whole thing until Paku was called after Yamada-kun and Takara-kun. 

When the girl came back with her paper, she flopped back in her seat dejectedly.  
“Sixty five points,” she muttered softly to Izumo while Konekomaru was called upon.  
“Even though I studied so hard,”  
“But you passed right?” Kamiki tried to console her. “I can help you study next time Noriko-chan,”  
Inari felt bad for the girl. They had run into each other at the library a few times, and Paku really had been studying for the test, -more than Inari herself anyway- but she had trouble juggling the workloads of both regular school and cram classes. 

Inari turned her attention back to her doodles, but kept an ear open when Shiemi was called. Okumura-sensei was gently admonishing Shiemi for not using the proper nomenclature on her test. The shy girl bowed her head and shuffled back to her seat, sighing deeply as she sat down while Rin teased her good-naturedly about her bragging when class started. 

“Okumura-kun”  
Rin snapped to attention immediately, shooting a quick glance to his right where Inari was sitting. The girl subtly gave him a thumbs-up and gestured for him to get his test from his brother.

Rin tensely reached for the paper his brother held out for him, almost shaking with anticipation. Then suddenly his shoulders slumped back in to their relaxed position.  
“Better than I’d hoped,” Okumura-sensei stated. “Keep up studying and I’m sure your grades will improve further.” 

“Yukimura-san” When her name was called, Inari walked up to the teacher’s desk.  
“Not bad, but I know you can do better,” was all Okumura-sensei told her as he handed her the test. The percentage was written in the top right corner with bright red ink. 70%, it was indeed a bit on the low side for her. 

When she turned back, she paused at Rin and Shiemi’s desk again, and Rin proudly showed her his paper.  
“I haven’t had a 60% score on a test since my second year of middle school,” he confessed in a soft voice. The way he was grinning was contagious, and Inari felt the corner’s of her own mouth turn up at his enthusiasm, he was practically beaming with pride. Before Inari could reply, Suguro was called.  
“So proud of a 60%? That’s barely a passing grade, try studying instead of trying to act all cool for the girls,” he sneered as he walked passed them. “Disgusting.” 

Inari gaped at him, caught of guard by the sudden hostility he had shown Rin.  
“The hell is his problem?” Rin grumbled, “He’s the one trying to act all cool with his dumb hair and his stupid piercings.”  
“I’ve got no idea, he’s usually not this angry,” Inari replied, staring at Suguro’s back and hoping the confrontation was over.  
She almost groaned when Suguro turned around and smugly shoved his test in Rin’s face.

“N-no way! A guy with an attitude like yours getting 98%? There’s just… That kind of thing just doesn’t happen!” Rin stuttered out, staring at the boy in front of him. Now Inari did groan. This was not going to be pretty.  
Whether Rin had meant to bait the taller boy, Inari didn’t know, but Suguro certainly reacted.  
“What the hell? You wanna know why I come to these classes?” He shouted, crumbling up his test paper in his clenched fists. “To do some serious studying and earn the right to call myself an exorcist!”  
Rin shot out of his seat, ducking around the desk to face Suguro. He looked angry, but there was something in his eyes that screamed insecurity.  
Inari was alert, ready to break up a fistfight if needed. She cast a quick look at Okumura-sensei, who looked as vigilant as she was, but did not move to interfere. 

“Suguro-kun don’t you think you’re taking this too seriously?” She tried carefully, but she was ignored entirely. ‘Come on, calm your friend’ she thought to herself while shooting a glare at Shima and Konekomaru, who’d approached too, but didn’t step in either. 

“Look around you!” Suguro shouted at Rin. “Everyone here is serious about becoming exorcists, yeah?”  
Out of the corner of her eye, Inari saw Shiemi flinch at the boy’s exclamation, but Suguro already continued his tirade.  
“Half-assed punks like you should get the hell out of our sight!”

A flash of hurt crossed Rin’s face and Inari stepped closer to him, putting a hand on his shoulder in a silent act of comfort. Rin had been putting in effort during their study sessions, and even if Suguro didn’t know it, his words had hit a sore spot. The hurt was gone as soon as it came though, being replaced with anger instead.  
“What gives you the right to judge me, stripe-head? I’m working towards becoming an exorcist just like the rest of you!” Rin cried out. 

“Are you? I haven’t seen ya pay attention in a single lesson. All ya do is sleep through class!” Suguro launched forward, but his friends grabbed him to hold him back. Inari and Okumura-sensei did the same with Rin, as the boy did not seem to have any qualms hitting Suguro while the boy was restrained. 

“How would you know I haven’t been working? I’m just more of a practical person!” He shouted, leaning forward to get into Suguro’s personal space. Inari tugged him back by the arm.  
“I’m just no good at learning in a classroom!”  
“Yes yes, excellent point Rin,” Okumura-sensei said, pulling Rin further away from his classmate. Inari let go and watched the two brothers interact for a moment before shooting the Kyoto trio a look. Her good mood had taken a nosedive.  
This was probably going to be a very long day.  
\--  
During the break Inari joined Rin, Shiemi and Okumura-sensei at the big fountain. Said fountain was located in a courtyard quite a bit away from the regular high school, and was mostly frequented by exorcists and cram school students from different years. It was a nice little get away from the busy campus

“What’s up with that guy anyway? Is he some kind of genius or something?” Rin wondered aloud. Inari looked up at the sound of his voice. Rin had claimed a spot to sulk on the fountain a level higher than Inari and Shiemi.  
“He’s a prodigy,” Okumura-sensei replied. “He’s attending True Cross on a scholarship like Inari and I.” 

“His father is the high priest of a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, it’s specialized in a particular kind of exorcism, so he’s also got a head start on you.” Inari butted in. 

Rin looked at her in confusion. “How do you know that?”  
“My older brother worked with a member of that temple for a long time. We even stayed in Kyoto for a while after my grandmother passed away.” Inari shrugged. “I don’t know what he’s got up his ass now though, acting like that.” 

“Well, Suguro-kun is smart, athletic and he’s very serious about his classes. You could learn a thing or two from him, Nii-san.” Okumura-sensei admonished his brother before turning to Shiemi. Rin flushed at the comment and turned his head, not looking at the others anymore.

Inari tuned them out as she took her phone out of her bag. She had heard it buzz in class, but didn’t have the chance to check it yet. She quickly entered her lock-code and opened the new text message. 

11:20 am  
I can’t be reached the next couple of days  
-Jun

She frowned at her screen. Could he be anymore vague? Of course she never got mission details if he’d have to leave on a multiple day trip, but he usually said where he was going or how long he’d be gone exactly. Inari hadn’t expected that to change while he was in Germany. With a pout she shoved her phone back in her bag. She would send a reply later. 

A little while later Okumura-sensei left, and Shiemi started a conversation.  
“Hey, I don’t really belong here at all, do I?” She asked quietly, looking down at her hands.  
“Oh, that’s right, you’re not aiming to become an exorcist are you?” Rin wondered. “I don’t think it’s a problem, everyone is different, so…”  
“I’m not really aiming to become a True Cross Knight either,” Inari butted in. It gained her two surprised looks.  
“I don’t mind fighting to help people, but I don’t really like the general attitude a lot of exorcists have,” she confessed. “Not everything demonic is evil.” 

The other teens thought about that for a minute, and Inari fiddled with the hem of her skirt. The atmosphere was so tense that she was grateful for Shiemi’s sudden outburst.  
“Do you two want to be my friends?” She asked, standing up so abruptly Inari was afraid she’d fall into the fountain.  
Rin turned red and stuttered a little, but neither he nor Inari got the chance to give Shiemi an answer. 

“Well well, aren’t you a player, flirting with two girls at once?”  
Rin and Shiemi froze, and Inari buried her face in her hands.  
“Fli-fli-flirting?” Rin stammered out, turning to face Suguro and his friends. The three had changed into their sport clothes already, and they were standing a little bit away from the fountain.  
“So which one is your woman?” Suguro continued. “You sure are taking it easy, bringing your girl to one of the few schools of exorcism in the world.” 

Whether he meant Shiemi or Inari was unclear, but the young fox demon’s face flared up at the insinuation anyway. What was Suguro even thinking? It wasn’t like she had only been hanging out with Rin al the time, she had even had lunch with Suguro, Shima and Konekomaru from time to time.  
“It’s not like that!” Rin snapped defensively.  
“Well, what’s it like then? Are they your little friends or what?”  
Rin couldn’t get out a proper sentence because he was so flustered. His pointed ear had turned a bright shade of red, so Inari took pity on him and decided to step in. 

“Are you sure you should be the one lecturing others about bringing people along, when you are the one walking around with two wannabe bodyguards, Suguro-sama?” she snapped, putting extra emphasis on the honorific. She could understand he didn’t get along with Rin, but that didn’t mean she’d just let him bully the boy. 

For a moment nobody said anything, and then Shima snorted, pressing a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter.  
“Do you think it’s funny?” Suguro asked, clearly offended that his friend didn’t take his side.  
“Well, you gotta admit ‘it’s true,” Shima retorted, giggling at the flush of his friend’s cheeks. 

Suguro didn’t say anything, turning his glare at Rin instead. Inari swore she could see lightning flashing between the two, as if they were in some kind of cartoon. She sighed deeply and grabbed Rin by the arm, before their immature staring match could turn into a full-blown fistfight. 

“Come on, PE starts in 15 minutes and we still have to change,” Inari stated as she gently tugged Rin in the direction of the door they’d used to leave the cram school.  
“Are you coming Shiemi?” She called over her shoulder.  
“Y-yes!” The blonde girl called out before gathering the skirt of her kimono and rushing after them, leaving the Kyoto Trio alone in the courtyard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! This chapter took a little longer than intended, and unfortunately I'm not sure I caught all mistakes while editing, so sorry for any mistakes. Please tell me what you thought, all feedback is greatly appreciated!


	7. Chapter 7

Inari was panting as she climbed up the ladder rungs attached to the side of the arena. Physical education was not what she’d expected from it. Instead of learning martial arts or making a start with Kendo so that they could get a feel for the Knight Meister, they spent their time running around in circles in pairs.

To make it more exciting, they were followed closely by a big frog demon called a leaper. For demons, leapers were quite docile, but something about their red, slitted eyes freaked Inari out. They were chained to a platform in the centre, where the teacher –a tall, eccentric man called Tsubaki-sensei- could control them and pull them away from the students if they got too close. It was basically regular P.E. on steroids.

After reaching the upper level of the arena, Inari sat down next to Shiemi. The blond girl looked a little uncomfortable, obviously not used to wearing sports clothes. She had planned to wear a temple outfit, but Inari had put a stop to that real fast, offering the girl her owns sports clothing instead. There was no way Shiemi could run from demons in a kimono.

Lending Shiemi clothes meant that Inari was forced to wear the tank top and shorts she usually wore when she went jogging and more recently when she was training her fox fire. It made her stand out among the other students, who were all wearing jersey provided by the academy, and Inari was hyper-aware of Shima checking out her exposed skin.

“You’re really fast, Yukimura-san,” Paku said between her short breaths.  
“Thank you,” Inari said. “I think I might have over done it though.” She had been in the lead in their run, leaving both Paku and the leaper way behind her. The aura coming from the frog demon had given her a sense of caution, a drive to stay ahead, even as Tsubaki-sensei called out something about it not being a race.

Tsubaki-sensei called for Rin and Suguro to enter the arena together, and as the two slid down to the lower level, Inari was snapped out of her thoughts.  
The run was interesting enough to watch. Both Suguro and Rin had more attention for each other than for the Leaper, ignoring the demon in favour of outpacing the other. The two were fast, Suguro obviously throwing in his athletic prowess, but Rin was close on his heels, over taking him a couple of times.

After three laps Suguro had to slow his pace, growing tired because of the ridiculous speed they were keeping up. Rin took this opportunity to put some distance between the two of them.  
“So slow!” he loudly called over his shoulder. “You might be smart, but what’s that gonna give you out there in the real world?”  
Suguro’s posture tightened, and he sped up, Rin’s taunting words fuelling him to push forward.

The class watched wide eyed as Suguro took a leap, leg stretching forward. He managed to hit Rin straight in the back, sending the boy crashing to the ground.  
“In the real world I’d do anything to win!” Suguro shouted. He hadn’t thought out his actions though, and the dooming shadow of the Leaper that had taken a jump forward caught him by surprise entirely.

The leaper didn’t get far, as the chain around its neck was pulled taut, yanking it away from Suguro and Rin.  
“Oi, oi, oi!” Tsubaki-sensei cried out. “Are you two trying to get yourself killed?”

Shima snickered. “So damn stupid.” Konekomaru shot him an affronted look, but for once Inari was inclined to agree with the pink haired boy. Fighting each other while running away from a demon was damn stupid, and if they kept up this rivalry when they all got promoted to exwires, they could cause some real problems for the rest of the group.  
“I told you already, this is not a race! This is training to help you get used to demon movements!” Tsubaki-sensei continued, his voice sounding awfully pinched.

Rin and Suguro ignored him though, getting up to tackle each other. Shima and Konekomaru quickly skidded down the slanting walls of the arena, running toward their friend while Tsubaki-sensei hurried off of his platform to interfere too. The two fighting teens were pulled off of each other swiftly.

Inari drew up her legs and buried her head in her knees, too annoyed with her classmates to watch them get scolded by their teacher. She perfectly understood they didn’t like each other, but why couldn’t they just ignore each other and get on with their lives? That was what she’d been doing with Kamiki, and it was working just fine. Sure, it left a strange atmosphere between them from time to time, and poor Paku was still trying to bridge the gap between them, but at least they did not interrupt classes every other hour.

“Why is Tsubaki-sensei only talking to Suguro-san?” Shiemi wondered softly.  
Inari looked up for a moment and saw Rin standing next to Konekomaru and Shima –apparently deep in conversation – while Suguro was talking to the teacher a good few metres away. It didn’t look like he was getting scolded too badly, but whatever the teacher was saying wasn’t making him happy either.

“Who cares?” Kamiki sighed, “As long as those idiots stop disrupting class.”  
Paku made a soft sound of agreement, but didn’t comment otherwise.  
After a few minutes, the boys were sent back to their classmates.

“Now that that’s resolved, let’s continue with the lesson!” Tsubaki-sensei called out as he made his way back to the platform. “Kamiki-kun, Moriyama-kun please make your way into the arena!”

While Shiemi and Kamiki went down, Inari made sure to place herself in between Rin and Suguro, who were still glaring at each other.  
“I know it’s annoying to have Suguro on your case, but please try to ignore him, Rin,” She said softly, keeping her eyes on Shiemi, who was doing quite well considering how often she almost lost her balance. Had the girl been wearing her temple outfit, she would have fallen multiple times in the first lap.

Rin huffed. “It’s not like I want to fight with him all the time.”  
“Just got a temper huh?” Inari asked softly. Rin blushed at that and focused on their classmates down in the arena.  
“Shima and Konekomaru say we’re a lot alike,” he admitted after a moment. “We even got the same goal.”  
Inari didn’t get the chance to answer, as Tsubaki-sensei called for Shima and Yamada. But before the two could skid down, a loud ringtone rang through the arena.  
“Who’s that? We’re in the middle of class!” Suguro complained. The others shrugged, looking around trying to find out where the sound was coming from.

Tsubaki-sensei pulled the ringing phone out of a pocket in his exorcist coat and answered. “Yes it’s me.”  
Rin and Inari shot each other a look, and a bit further Suguro made a surprised noise. “Seriously?”

“What is it, Honey?” Tsubaki-sensei continued, unbothered by the students listening in on his half of the phone conversation. “What, right now? Such a reckless kitty!” He ended the call and addressed the class. “Practise by yourselves for now! Leapers are generally very docile demons, but they’ll attack if you’re agitated, by reading your mind. You will not enter the race-court until I get back, so under no circumstances should you go within their reach, understood?”  
He did not give the students the time to answer, turning around and running out of the room, yelling for his ‘kitten’.

Shima walked back to his friends, shooting a look in the direction Tsubaki-sensei had left.  
“That teacher was actually saying ‘kitten’, wasn’t he?” he asked in a deadpan voice. Konekomaru nodded, a frown on his face. Most of the students were a bit unsettled by the way their teacher had just stormed out, except for Yamada and Takara, who just looked bored. Yamada even pulled his hand-held console out the pocket of his hoodie.

“Practise by ourselves in P.E.?” Kamiki complained loudly.  
“Can he even do that?” Paku wondered. She looked confused more than angry, unlike Suguro, who had crossed his arms tightly across his chest, glaring of into the distance.

“And they call that a teacher?” he asked no one in particular, “I thought True Cross Academy would be a sacred place of studying for determined people!” He looked over at his shoulder at Rin. “The students are no better either!”

Inari groaned. Suguro just had to seek out another confrontation with Rin, didn’t he? Rin tensed up, and leant forward slightly.  
“What do you know about my determination?” He questioned.  
“It’s clear from how you act in class.”  
“Here we go again,” Shima muttered. “Bon, be more mature.”  
“Please stop it,” Konekomaru added.

“Shut up and stay out of it,” Suguro snapped at his friends. Then he turned back to Rin, with a gleam in his eyes Inari didn’t quite like. She got to her feet, and went to stand next to Rin.

“Since you claim to be so determined, prove it!” Suguro continued.  
“Prove it? How?” Rin shoved his hands in his pockets and regarded the other boy with a relaxed attitude that did not match the tense atmosphere between the two of them.  
Inari’s heart leapt in to her throat when Suguro turned around and pointed at the lone leaper down in the race court. The frog demon wasn’t doing anything, every bit the docile creature Tsubaki-sensei had claimed it to be, but Inari couldn’t shake the man’s warning about them attacking if you approached them while agitated. With the way Rin and Suguro had been going at each other all day, this could just turn into a disaster.

“If you can go down there, and touch that demon without it attacking you, you win. If you waver while looking it in the eye, it’ll be your last mistake.” Suguro let a pause fall. “If you can get back without getting hurt, I’ll acknowledge your determination.”  
“Hey, Bon…” Shima protested weakly, but Suguro spoke over him.  
“Of course, I’ll do it to, and I’ll win! So are you in?”

Everybody tensely awaited Rin’s answer, looking at the boy expectantly.  
“Huh, interesting. I’m in.” He chuckled. Inari immediately grabbed his arm, already opening her mouth to question what the hell he was thinking, when he dropped the cool demeanour. “Is that what you thought I’d say, you blockhead?” Rin lazily scratched at his nose. “I’m not doing it. What if I make a mistake and die? I’ve got my goal just like you, I won’t risk my life over something stupid like this.”

With a heavy sigh of relief, Inari let go of Rin. Maybe the situation would diffuse a bit now. No such luck, Rin’s words had struck a chord. Suguro reeled back; turning to his friends with a somewhat hurt expression.  
“Did you tell him?” he cried. “A goal my ass! You are just scared!”  
Rin shrugged. “If that’s what you think.”

Suguro clenched his fist, trembling with anger or frustration.  
“Every single one off you. Why don’t you fight?! Doesn’t it bother you?”  
Nobody dared to answer.  
“I’ll do it, Just watch!” With those last words, Suguro turned around and skidded down the slope.

“Wait is he actually serious?” Paku cried, leaning forward in concern.  
“Nah, he’ll turn back. So stupid,” Kamiki said dismissively, throwing her nose up. Inari shot a glare in her direction. The situation was serious, and it angered her that the pig-tailed girl could not see the danger their classmate was in.

She watched tensely as Suguro made his way to the leaper with large, determined steps.  
“I’ll become a real exorcist!” he exclaimed as he marched forward. “ And I’ll defeat Satan!”

There was a beat of silence before Kamiki started snickering. She hid her mouth behind her hand, but didn’t do anything to muffle her laughter further.  
“Defeat Satan? What are you saying? You’re not a kid anymore!”

Inari genuinely felt like strangling Kamiki, as her remark was the last straw that broke Suguro’s resolve, and Inari could see it just as clearly as the leaper. Instead of turning her rage on the other girl, she shot into action. Taking a leap at the same moment the demon down below did.

As she soared through the air with a speed she had her demon blood to thank for, she desperately sought for power to help Suguro, concentrating on the ball bouncing against her chest. She threw out her hands, and screamed something incomprehensible, focussing all the power she could muster through the seal on the Leaper.

The sand from the race-court was blown into the air, into the leaper’s eyes, but it wasn’t enough to stop it in its tracks. She closed her eyes as she roughly crashed to the ground, not wanting to see the demon grabbing her classmate. The crash left large abrasions on her bare arms and legs, but the adrenaline coursing through her veins kept her from noticing the pain.  
She heard the demon close it’s jaws, and despite the way her stomach turned around at the sound, she looked up.

Suguro was standing in front of her, arm outstretched toward the demon that had its jaws wrapped around Rin. She was struggling to get up so she could rush forward and do something, anything, when a thought entered her head that most certainly wasn’t hers.  
_**"Let go.”**_ Inari looked around bewilderedly. Had somebody spoken? Nobody else seemed to have heard it.  
_**“I said, let the fuck go!!”**_ Inari’s hands relaxed involuntarily, as if dropping something, although she had jumped into the arena empty-handed.  
“Rin.” she realized. The voice that had sounded in her head was Rin. The aura she had felt around him the first day of class surrounded him again, and Inari shuddered at the display of dominance.

The Leaper let go and stepped back almost fearfully. If amphibians had been able to, the leaper would have burst out in cold sweat. It trembled when Rin put a hand on its nose and spoke menacingly.  
“What are you doing? Are you suicidal or just really that fucking stupid?” He turned around to face his classmate, apparently not at all bothered by the fact that he was showing his back to the creature that had just tried to take a bite out of him.  
“The one to defeat Satan will be me! You get lost!”

 Inari watched in silence as another shouting match arose between the boys, who were back to ignoring their surroundings completely. She didn’t understand the two could fight again barely a minute after they’d gotten out of a life-threatening situation.

 A life-threatening situation she’d been utterly useless in. What was the use of having magic demon powers if she wasn’t able to use them to help when needed? Her gust of wind had been larger than anything she had summoned before, but it had done barely anything to stop the Leaper as it attacked. Rin had almost gotten eaten as a result.

 Rin, who’d been at odds with Suguro for pretty much the entire day, had thrown himself into danger without any hesitation. He had used his body to shield the other boy, and miraculously made it out of a demon’s mouth alive. He had to be either very determined, (and sure he wouldn’t waver underneath the Leapers gaze or teeth) or very stupid. Inari was leaning towards the latter.

But then she remembered the way Rin’s voice had echoed in her mind, his command spoken with such authority she had been urged to ‘let the fuck go’ herself, even though she hadn’t been holding anything.

Only a few times before had Inari been able to hear somebody else’s voice in her head. Ukobach communicated with her telepathically, and she had heard the Nekomata whose kittens were killed by her father announce it would kill her with a ridiculous amount of glee. Needless to say, it had not been the introduction to the Exorcist world Jun had envisioned for her.

 The whole incident strengthened the suspicion she had had about Rin from the moment he had walked into the classroom those two weeks ago.  
Now she just had to confront him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, this is later than I'd planned, but I didn't have internet for quite some time unfortunately. I'm so happy with the response this story has gotten so far, and I hope you'll let me know what you thought about this chapter too!


	8. Chapter 8

Falling asleep had not been part of her “grand plan to confront Rin about his demonic heritage”, but Inari was barely able to fight the exhaustion that forced her eyes to close as Okumura-sensei gently cleaned the abrasions on her arms.  
The burst of wind she had summoned had taken a lot of energy, especially because she had only just begun exploring her boundaries during training, and she almost fainted after climbing out of the arena.  
That had been Rin’s cue to haul her arm across his shoulders, but an arm under her knees and carry her to the Cram school’s infirmary.

When she protested he didn’t have to, she could walk on her own, he had simply snorted.  
“Yeah right, I’m not letting you faint again. Besides, you seem to be lighter than I remembered you being last time.”  
“You didn’t even carry me last time,” Inari had protested.  
“Who do you think got you in the recovery position.” was Rin’s answer. After that Inari had stopped protesting. 

The only thing that really kept Inari awake was the sting of the antiseptic Okumura-sensei was applying. Most of the wounds barely bled, but the skin had been scraped badly. He was surprisingly gentle while treating her -which she greatly appreciated- but the awkward silence and soft touches were not helping her stay awake.  
Her thoughts drifted off again, her eyes slid shut, and Inari decided to just stop fighting it. Her breathing grew slower, and her muscles relaxed. 

Which caused her to topple to the side. The sensation of falling jerked her awake roughly, and Rin grabbed her shoulders to steady her, just in time to stop her from falling of the treatment table.  
“Easy there. You okay?” he asked worriedly.  
“‘M tired,” Inari replied drowsily. 

Okumura-sensei was putting away the first aid supplies, and Inari almost questioned Rin about the telepathic communication while the younger twin had his back turned.  
“Hey Rin,” she started, but when she saw his worried look she hesitated. How would he react to such an accusation? Maybe she was wrong, and Inari didn’t think she would like to be accused of being a demon if it weren’t true. Besides, even if she was right about Rin, it would probably be a very touchy subject, otherwise he would have revealed himself to the class, right?  
“Are you okay yourself?” she asked instead. “That Leaper looked like-“ she broke her sentence of with a yawn. “-like it had a tight grip on you.”

Rin sheepishly rubbed his neck, giving her a small smile.  
“It didn’t pierce my skin or anything,” he stated, trying to wave of her concern. “Look, it didn’t even rip my shirt!” He stretched the blue fabric so Inari could see it wasn’t damaged. 

“I don’t understand why you jumped in front of us, you could have died,” Inari said softly. Rin had used his own body as a shield, which was both effective and terrifying. If he did something like that with a more dangerous demon, it was entirely possible he would die.  
“So could you, you didn’t hesitate either,” Rin retorted.  
“I overestimated my foxfire,” Inari laughed a little and raised her bandaged arm. “Stupid thing to do, really.”

“You were both stupid, but it did save your classmate so I’ll let it slide.” Okumura-sensei had finished putting away the supplies and returned to the treatment table with a glass of water and some white tablets.  
“Take these, it should help with the drowsiness for a while,” he stated as he handed Inari two of the tablets. Inari hesitated before popping one into her mouth. The tablet was too large to swallow whole, so she bit down on it. A sickeningly sweet taste filled her mouth, and she cringed, but swallowed. Okumura-sensei motioned for her to take another one, and she did with a grimace. 

“What was that?” she asked. She gratefully accepted the glass of water from her homeroom teacher and tried to wash the taste out of her mouth.  
“Fructose tablets.” Okumura-sensei stated. “We keep them on hand to give diabetic people if they get a hypo.” 

“So it’s just sugar?” Rin asked, leaning forward and sniffing the packet his brother was still holding. “It does smell sweet.”  
“It’s a kind of sugar, yes,” Okumura-sensei agreed, before putting the packet away. 

“There’s about half an hour of your P.E. class left, so I want the two of you too go to the homeroom.”  
“Me too?” Rin wondered. “I promise I’m not hurt, Yukio.”  
Okumura-sensei only rolled his eyes at the protest, just like Jun did sometimes when Inari was being difficult, and Inari was once again reminded that the two of them were actually related.  
“You might be fine, but Inari isn’t and I don’t want her to be alone for now,” Okumura-sensei elaborated. “I’ve got a mission this afternoon, so I can’t stay with her.” 

“Fine,” Rin grumbled. He pouted a little, but grabbed his sword and slung it back over his shoulder. “You fine to walk?” he asked Inari, who got of the treatment table. She was still feeling a little wobbly, but the extra sugar dose was starting to work. 

They made a detour to their respective locker rooms, where they quickly changed and gathered their bags before continuing to the homeroom. Inari had shot Jun a quick text to ask him where he was going, and then re-joined Rin.

When they sat down in the classroom, Rin immediately pulled his cram school books out of his book bag. He piled them up next to him and vigorously Started working on their first homework assignment for the next day. Inari sat down next to him, taking Shiemi’s usual spot, and started working on her own homework. She had finished most of her cram school homework, so she made a start on her maths assignment. 

While he had a great, motivated start, it didn’t take long for Rin to get distracted. His bangs were constantly falling in front of his eyes and he got bored with reading the book in front of him quickly. 

After listening to the dark haired boy sigh and tap his pencil on the desk for ten minutes, Inari was fed up.  
“Come on, give me the book and I’ll quiz you,” she said. Rin wordlessly handed her the book and turned to face her. Inari browsed through the pages until she found the chapter they’d been working on. It took her a moment to recall the details of the lesson (she was still feeling a little fuzzy).

“Okay, can you tell me what the weakest demon kin of Amaimon is?” Inari started.  
“Ehm, Dekalp? Or green men it’s Green Men isn’t it?”  
“It’s Dekalp actually.” Inari paused and leafed a little further into the chapter. “Baby Green Men are on the same level as Dekalp, but Green Men can actually grow stronger until they’re middle class.”  
“Oh, right,” Rin muttered. He looked down and Inari saw a hint of a blush on his cheeks.  
She paused for a moment, mulling over the little exchange. She had noticed him wrongly correcting himself during their study sessions a couple of times. If Rin was so anxious about his answers he second-guessed them even if they were right, it could in part explain his bad grades.  
“Do you do that at tests too?” Inari wondered aloud.  
“What?” Rin asked. A frown formed on his face and Inari realized she had to elaborate.  
“Change you’re an-“ She yawned. “-Answers. Your first answer was right, but you corrected yourself.” 

The question seemed to have caught the boy off guard, and he frowned deeply.  
“I-I guess so,” he confessed after a moment of thought.  
“Okay,” Inari started. She bit her lip and thought about how to handle this. If she remembered correctly, second-guessing was a sign of performance anxiety.  
“I’m going to quiz you again, and I want you to give the first answer that pops into your mind. Just that first answer.” Inari decided. She would have to bring up the performance anxiety with Okumura-sensei or one of the high school teachers, she was in no way trained to help with this, and Rin needed help. 

“Who is the demon king of light?” She asked, looking at Rin expectantly.  
“Uh…Lucifer?” he replied unsurely.  
“Yep. Who is the demon king of fire?”  
“Iblis.” He sounded a little surer of himself, and Inari smiled a little.  
“Right! Which demon king are ghost trains kin to?”  
“Azzazel?”  
“No, they belong to Samael, but that’s a logical mistake” Inari corrected. “Ghost trains are called that because they transport spirits, so they move through ‘space’. Another way to remember they belong to the king of space and time is that they are known to stop watches and clocks in the areas they pass trough.”  
They continued their little back and forth for a while, until Inari felt satisfied.  
“Well, you had about 15 out of 20 questions correct,” She told Rin before stifling another yawn. “You know a lot more than you think, you just need the confidence to trust your first answer.” 

The bright smile that appeared on Rin’s face lightened up the mood, which had been a little tense before. She lightly nudged the boy’s shoulder.  
“Try to do this next test too. Just write down your first answer and don’t look back,” she told him. Her eyes were drooping again, and Inari tiredly rubbed at them.  
The little sugar boost had worn off, and her body was growing heavy again.  
“You should take a nap,” Rin told her sternly. Inari gave him a surprised look. He was very serious, gently patting the desk as if to tell her to lie down.  
“Right here?” Inari questioned. She looked at the wooden desk in front of her. She had seen Rin put his head down on it a couple of times, but it did not look comfortable to her. “Yeah, it’s more comfortable than it looks, promise. I’ll study on my own for a bit!” 

When the girl still hesitated, he put his bag in between them on the desk, and demonstratively opened his book to read. Inari could recognize a dismissal like that, and with a small smile she laid her head down on her arms. She’d just close her eyes for a couple of minutes. 

“Yukimura-san, wake up.” A gentle hand touched her shoulder, and the girl jerked up. Okumura-sensei was looking down at her with a soft smile. “Are you feeling any better?” he asked. Inari stretched, letting her joints pop back in their proper places. She had a bit of a crick in her neck because of the awkward position she had slept in, but felt fine otherwise.  
“Hmm, feeling a little stiff. My skin is feeling okay though.” She replied after a moment. 

The classroom was mostly empty, only Rin, Shiemi and Suguro were still there but they were preparing to leave too. Rin saw she was up and gave her a big grin and a little wave. Something silver glinted in his hand, but Inari didn’t get the chance to see what it was before Rin left with Shiemi in tow. Suguro hesitated, but eventually ducked his head and left too.

“That’s good. Class is over for today, so I want you to go back to the dorms with Kamiki-san. You should not be left alone in your state.” He gestured towards the door of the room, where the twin-tailed girl appeared. Izumo had her arms crossed across her chest, and was tapping her foot against the floor obnoxiously. 

“Great…” Inari muttered under her breath as she gathered her belongings. She understood his reasoning, she had fainted after one of her fox fire-induced naps before. The idea of fainting on campus alone was not exactly pleasant.  
“See you tomorrow Okumura-sensei,” She told the exorcist as she walked past him. He made an affirmative sound and then walked to the desk. 

Izumo kept quiet as they walked out of the cram school, and Inari couldn’t say she minded. Their relationship (if you could even call it that) was beyond strained already, and Inari had not forgotten it was Izumo who tore Suguro’s confidence down this afternoon. She wouldn’t care if Izumo never even looked at her again. 

When they were halfway across campus, Izumo looked at her and opened her mouth to say something. Inari didn’t plan to listen though, and she turned away from the other girl to grab her phone, casually checking her messages. Jun hadn’t replied yet, but she hadn’t really expected him too. 

“Yukimura-san,” Izumo tried again, but Inari gave her a glare and decisively turned away again. Perhaps it was childish, but she had a feeling that any confrontation would end in a fight, and she had promised Okumura-sensei and her brother that she would try to stay out of trouble. 

“What’s your problem?” Izumo demanded when she realized she was being ignored. She stepped in front of Inari to keep her from dismissing her again. Inari could feel her expression tightening with anger.  
“You are,” she bit out. She tried to duck around the other girl, but Izumo grabbed her wrist. 

“You don’t get to do this, Kamiki” Inari snapped angrily. She yanked her arm out of Izumo’s grip. “You’ve been treating me like I’ve got some contagious disease for the passed few weeks, and now you suddenly want to talk?” 

Izumo looked surprised at the sudden outburst, but Inari did not give her the time to reply.  
“What happened this afternoon was your fault, Kamiki, and you’re going to have to make it right before I’ll even listen to anything you have to say.”  
“How was it my fault that Okumura and Suguro acted like idiots? I wasn’t the one that send Suguro into that arena!” Izumo cried out.  
“No, but you were the one that gutted his self confidence by laughing at him, while he was approaching a demon that preys on insecurities!” Inari shouted back. 

In the back of her mind Inari knew they shouldn’t be doing this out on campus, but she was completely fed up with the other girl’s attitude.  
“You can keep telling yourself you’re better than the rest off us, Kamiki,” Inari said, forcing herself to speak at a normal volume, “ But Exorcists don’t work alone, and if you keep this up, you’re going to have a big problem in this line of work.” 

Inari felt a bit calmer after stating her mind, and she hoisted her bag a little higher on her shoulder. “You don’t have to walk with me to the second years’ dorms, I’ll be fine on my own.” 

With that, she left Izumo behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another chapter! This one was (almost) on time too, but I'm afraid I'm running out of prewritten chapters, and university is starting soon, so I can't promise the next few will be too. 
> 
> Anyway, I'd love to hear what you thought, so don't be afraid to leave kudos or a comment!


	9. Chapter 9

To her relief, Inari did make it to her dorm on her own, but her energy crashed almost immediately after. Hiyori wasn’t back yet, she had said something about her English Club having a long meeting, but Inari couldn’t really recall because of her drowsiness.

She managed to change into her pyjamas and set an alarm on her phone for the next day before crawling into her bed. She closed her eyes and fell a sleep almost immediately.

 

About an hour later, somebody woke Inari by shaking her arm gently.

When she opened her eyes, Hiyori was standing over her with a concerned look on her face.

“Are you okay? It’s only seven.”

 

“Had a bit of a harrowing day,” Inari replied groggily. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

“I’d say, what happened to your arm?” Hiyori asked, looking at the bandages that peaked out from underneath Inari’s sleeve meaningfully.

Inari hesitated before answering, tugging her sleeves down a little.

“I fell down the stairs.”

A perfectly epilated eyebrow rose.  
“You fell down the stairs?” Hiyori repeated sceptically.

“Yeah, I’m feeling a bit under the weather, didn’t look where I was going and missed a step.”

 

Hiyori reached out and put the back of her hand against Inari’s forehead.

“You are a little warm,” she confirmed. “I’m going down to the dining hall anyway, so I’ll get you some food. Rest some more Inari-san.”

“Thank you, Hiyori-san,” Inari replied before lying back down.

 

She had barely closed her eyes when she realized she hadn’t told her brother about what happened in the earlier text message she send him.

She grabbed her phone and shot him a quick message.

 

_Was forced to use foxfire during P.E. because of an incident with a Leaper._

_It didn’t do much, but everybody is fine._

_-Inari_

Jun probably wouldn’t see the message for a while, but she was determined to keep him posted on the major events. He would definitely have given her a hard time if she didn’t tell him about the Leaper incident, but one of the teachers did. That didn’t mean she would tell him how hard using her powers had actually been on her. Hiyori was right, she was running a fever, and while Ukobach usually stopped her from overworking herself, she was becoming more aware of the fact that she used too much energy when pushing past her seal.

 

Inari dropped the phone back into her bag. With a sigh she eased back into the warmth of her bed and closed her eyes.

 

\--

The next day Inari was feeling remarkably better. She had woken up before Hiyori and didn’t feel any of the fatigue that had lingered in her bones the day before as she got up to get dressed.

 

Hiyori had made sure Inari at least had some soup the day before, and even went as far as getting a wet cloth to help cool down the fever a little. Eventually Inari had managed to shoo her roommate to her own bed, (“We’ve got a Japanese history quiz tomorrow, you need your sleep Hiyori-san”) but it had taken quite some effort. Hiyori’s honest concern had lifted Inari’s spirits a lot.

 

Inari’s regular classes went by pretty fast, she was able to pay attention and the test went pretty well too, considering yesterday’s events.

In fact, Inari’s day was going normally until lunchtime rolled around. She had bought a bento from the convenience store on campus and planned to eat it in the classroom, because the food in the cafeteria was way out of her budget.

 

There were only a few other students left in the classroom, making the divide between the students on a scholarship and those whose parents could afford the tuition obvious.

Inari sat down near two of her classmates who both had a homemade lunch with them. They made some small talk while opening up their meals. Inari had just broken apart her chopsticks and muttered a quick “Thanks for the meal” when the door to the classroom suddenly opened.

 

“Is Yukimura-senpai here?”

Inari’s gaze snapped to the door at the sound of Suguro’s voice. He was standing in the opening, looking a little nervous without Shima and Konekomaru on his side.

“What’s he doing here?” Inari muttered to herself. Despite defending him in front of Kamiki the day before, she was not in the mood to talk to him just yet. She had not forgotten the way he had treated Rin. She was still debating whether she’d react or not when one of the girls she was sitting with did it for her.

 

“Do you know that delinquent Yukimura-san?” The girl asked in a ‘whisper’ that Suguro could probably hear perfectly from the doorway.

“He’s not a delinquent Nakajima-san.” Inari protested lightly.

“He’s got bleached hair and his ears are pierced,” the girl ‘whispered’ back as if that was all the evidence needed to judge his character.

“I know but-“ Inari sighed deeply, she had to admit he looked downright rebellious, especially if you didn’t know him. “You know what, never mind. I’ll see you in Biology, Okay.” Without waiting for an answer Inari got up, slung her bag up to her shoulder and picked up her bento.

“Let’s go,” she muttered as she walked passed Suguro out the door. The younger boy followed her without a word.

 

They ended up in a little courtyard close to entrance to the educational labs. Inari had deliberately chosen the spot because it was private enough to talk, but close enough to her next class to bail and claim she wanted to be early if she didn’t like the way the conversation was going.

 

Inari sat down at one of the little benches, and placed her lunchbox in her lap as she waited for Suguro to talk.

“Listen, I’m sorry about yesterday,” he started, wringing his hands together. Out of the public eye, he seemed a lot less self-assured, and Inari realized that the over the top self-confidence was at least partially faked.

He paused for a moment as if waiting for Inari to reply, but she just raised an eyebrow at him and kept silent. She wanted a proper apology instead of a simple ‘sorry’.

 

Suguro seemed to get the hint, and after a moment of thought he spoke again.

“The way I behaved was childish and stupid, and I’m really sorry it’s gotten you hurt Yukimura.”

 

“The scrapes will heal in time,” Inari shrugged, keeping her voice as cold as she could.

“But you sending that blast of wind-“ he paused again and shook his head. “You looked dead on your feet after, Okumura was fussing over you like crazy.”

 

“Listen, what you did was incredibly stupid, -and you better not pull a stunt like that _ever_ again- but it’s not your fault that I panicked and overdid the foxfire.” Inari interrupted. Suguro opened his mouth to reply, but Inari held up her hand, a clear sign that she would not be interrupted.

 

“The whole mess in P.E. is not what _I_ want an apology for, although I do hope you’ve apologized to Rin about that already.”

Suguro nodded at that. His cheeks were stained red and he looked quite small for somebody who was 6 feet tall.

“Yeah,” he said quietly before she could continue. “In the classroom yesterday.”

 

Inari paused at that. If he had truly apologized in the classroom, she had slept through it, which meant she had been sleeping a lot deeper than she usually did during naps. The idea that the foxfire was taking such a toll on her body was unsettling.

 

“That’s good,” Inari muttered, trying to pull her thoughts back on topic. “Anyway, I want you to know that I don’t appreciate the fact that you insinuated that I’m here because I’m somebody’s ‘woman’. I’ve worked my ass off to pass the transfer exam, and I won’t allow you to spread bullshit that undermines my hard work like that.”

 

Suguro had the decency to wince at that. Inari took a moment to look at him while she waited for him to reply. She had been annoyed with him for his attitude towards Rin, but that particular remark had actually angered her, as it was a dig at both her new friend and her intelligence.

 

“I am sorry about that,” Suguro stated softly, and Inari felt the last of her anger seep away. “I shouldn’t have said something that stupid. It’s not a good excuse, but I let my temper get the better of me. I promise it won’t happen again.”

“Thank you.” Inari said softly.

 

Now that the air between them was cleared, Inari and Suguro ate lunch together amicably, comparing their store-bought bentos and making small talk.

 

At some point Suguro complained about the way he’d seen Rin flail around Okumura-sensei in the hallway on his way to Inari’s classroom. When he realized he’d been criticizing Rin again, he stopped in his tracks and glanced at Inari.

 

Inari swallowed the bite of rice she had been chewing and wiped a stray grain from the corner of her mouth.

“I don’t understand why you care so much about Rin’s actions anyway. He didn’t enrol just to torment you, you know.” She stated carefully.

“I know you’re right, it’s just…” Suguro shrugged instead of finishing his sentence, apparently he couldn’t explain why he couldn’t get along with the other boy either.

 

“I promise Rin is serious about becoming an exorcist. They don’t let just anybody enrol after all.”

Suguro scoffed at that, the sound so full of contempt that Inari didn’t know how to react to it for a moment.

“Okumura has been enrolled by the Headmaster because of his special circumstances,” Suguro stated, his voice soaked in displeasure. “He’s just some lazy rich kid.”

 

Suddenly it made sense that Suguro hadn’t calmed down after Tsubaki-sensei had spoken to him. The boy had had to work very hard to get into True Cross on a full scholarship, just like her, and if she had heard a teacher insinuate somebody got into true cross because of connections, Inari would have felt angered too.

 

Still, Inari knew more about Rin that Suguro did, and she intended to put an end to his assumptions quickly.

“Oh come on, he is not ‘some lazy rich kid’.” Suguro’s eyebrows drew together in a deep frown at that.

“Isn’t he? He doesn’t do shit in class-“

“He tries, but he wasn’t lying when he said he wasn’t good at learning in a classroom setting.” Inari interrupted. “I’ve been tutoring him from the start of term, but he has so much to catch up on.”

 

“What do you mean he has to catch up?” Suguro asked. Curiosity seemed to have pushed his anger to the background.

“He wasn’t raised with knowledge about the order,” Inari supplied. “You and your friends were raised in an exorcists’ temple, Kamiki might have some demon blood far down in her family, and I’ve known about he order since slightly before my grandmother died, but Rin-“

“His brother is the youngest exorcist True Cross ever had!” Suguro protested.

“Exactly,” Inari shot back, “I’d think that these ‘special circumstances’ refer to the reason why Okumura-sensei was trained under the previous Paladin starting when he was seven, yet his twin brother didn’t know anything about demons until he got his temptaint a month ago.”

 

Suguro took a moment to think it over, thoughtfully looking at his now empty lunchbox.

“You are probably right,” he admitted after a while. “I really hadn’t thought about that.”

Inari shrugged at him.

“I’m closer to Rin,” she said, “but I don’t know more than that either, so whatever these circumstances are, they are probably a sensitive subject. Don’t pressure him into telling you, okay?”

 

Before Suguro could react, the bell that signalled the end of lunchtime rang. Inari quickly gathered her belongings and said goodbye to Suguro before making her way to the science labs.

 

Inari walked into the assigned room and took notice of the new poster on the wall between the anatomy posters of different animals. It warned about the dangers of eating disorders and it was probably put up just for this lesson, as Inari also noticed a scale on the ground in front of every workstation. Apparently they would be dealing with body weight this lesson.

 

Inari sat down at the workstation Nakajima-san was already sitting at, and took out her biology textbook and a notebook.

“So, what did the delinquent want? Did he confess to you?” She asked in the same ‘not-whisper’ she had used during lunch. The people who were entering the classroom looked in their direction, and Inari lightly pushed the girl’s arm.

“He’s not a delinquent, he’s in class 1A!” she protested. The A classes were for the smartest students in a year, they often consisted entirely off scholarship students who had worked their hardest to get placed in them. “And he did not confess to me, he just apologized for something that happened during world religions cram class yesterday!”

 

Nakajima-san’s eyes widened when Inari informed her of her extracurricular classes, all thoughts of confessing delinquents forgotten.

“You are in the World Religion classes? Isn’t it really hard to get in to? I heard you need to meet ridiculous standards!”

Inari snorted at that –those ridiculous standards usually were having family in the order- but did not get the chance to respond as the teacher entered the room and started roll call.

 

When he had finished roll call, the teacher explained they would be calculating their body mass index and explained the process. Inari dutifully took notes during the lecture, but she was eager to get to the practical part of the lesson. The practical lessons were always a welcome distraction from all the theoretical studying she normally did.

 

The practical part wasn’t very hard, all they had to do was help each other measure their height in centimetres, write it down on a stencil and then step on the scales next to working station. When Inari did that, she noticed something off about the number displayed.

 

“Hey, Nakajima-san?” She asked still standing on the scale. She stared intently at the weight, half expecting the numbers to change suddenly.

“Hm?” the other girl acknowledged her without looking up from her stencil.

“Did the scale give you your regular weight?”

 

 

After cram school, Inari only stopped by her dorm to tell Hiyori she suddenly had to tutor somebody before running off, not bothering to answer as the other girl questioned whether that was wise after being so sick the day before.

 

She had to dodge students left and right as she sprinted towards the old abandoned dormitory, but didn’t slow her pace at all. Inari had been itching to speak to Ukobach ever since the science class, and sitting through the cram school had done nothing to ease her mind. Of course she had noticed that her skirts sagged a little more than they did when she first tried them on, but she had written that off on the fabric loosing it’s stretch. Never had it occurred to her that she had lost over 10 per cent of her bodyweight in the past two weeks.

 

When she reached the backdoor she usually entered the dorm through, Inari took a moment to catch her breath. She quietly pushed down the door handle and slipped inside. The dining hall was deserted, but she could hear sounds coming from the kitchen, so she made her way over there.

 

Rin’s loud voice stopped her in her tracks.

“But it’s so annoying having to hide it all day!” he whined. For a moment Inari wondered who he was talking too, as Okumura-sensei had said he had a mission and ended his class early, he couldn’t be back already, right?

**_“Showing it so openly is still improper little prince,”_** Ukobach replied a lot softer. Inari’s eyes widened in surprise, and she snuck towards the kitchen door on her tiptoes. It was slightly ajar, so she slowly widened the gap and peered inside.

 

Rin was standing in front of the stove, stirring in a pot while conversing with Ukobach who was standing beside him on the counter, handing over spices.

What really caught Inari’s attention though, was the long, black tail that protruded from underneath his shirt.

She had had her suspicions from the first day they met, but seeing them confirmed was something else entirely, and she couldn’t avert her gaze.

 

It swayed from side to side with little flicks, and Inari had to put a hand over her mouth to muffle a giggle. The movement reminded her a little of a cat’s tail, although the tuft of longer hair at the end made it more similar to a lion tail.

 

Inari backed away from the kitchen and walked back to the back door. She slammed it loudly to announce her presence and give Rin a moment to compose himself before making her way back to the kitchen. Revelation about Rin or not, she still needed to speak to Ukobach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was so hard to write! It was very dialogue heavy at first, and eventually I just rewrote entire chunks to make it more readable, I hope it worked. 
> 
> I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter, so don't hesitate to leave a comment or give kudos!


	10. Chapter 10

“What do you mean you can’t come home that weekend?” Inari asked angrily. Her knuckles were turning white because of how tightly she was gripping her phone.

“I just told you Nana-chan, I can’t take leave now because-“

“I don’t care how much they need you!” Inari protested, the nickname only riling her up further. “You promised to come, wasn’t your overtime during Golden Week enough for them?”

“Oh come on Inari,” Jun sighed. “You don’t even care about half those holidays.”

“That’s not the point Jun! I haven’t seen you since the start of April, and it’s almost June now,” she bit back.

“It’s six in the morning here, Inari. Can we not-“

“Fine, then we won’t. Have fun exorcizing demons on the anniversary of grandma’s death!” She cried into the phone before hanging up.

 

Inari’s hands were shaking as she turned of her cell phone and buried it deeply in her bag. She and Jun had been fighting more often ever since the start of term, but never had it been as severe as this. She was actually having trouble reigning in her aura, which only happened when she was highly emotional.

Jun had been the one to call her this time, which had put her into a good mood for just a split second before he drove it into the ground by cancelling their weekend together.

 

Inari had been upset about that happening the first time too, as she missed her brother’s company, but they were supposed to visit their family’s graves this time so that put some extra salt into the wound. She angrily wiped the forming tears out of her eyes before forcibly jamming her cram school key into the lock of her dorm room, but couldn’t stop the lump from forming in her throat.

 

She didn’t stop to talk to Rin, - who was standing in the middle of the corridor with a bewildered look on his face as Shiemi briskly walked away from him – afraid her voice would break if she tried to speak. Instead she immediately walked into the classroom, and sat down at the desk she always occupied.

 

When Okumura-sensei walked in, he gave Inari a concerned look and opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong, but he backed of when she shot him a glare that could make flowers wilt.  

 

It took about half the pharmacology lesson for Inari to compose herself, and she was glad Okumura-sensei did not call on her to answer his questions. When she looked down at the notes she had taken to realize she had only written down half sentences and gibberish. Try as she might to read them, she had to admit they were useless. She decided to ask Suguro for his notes on the lesson later.

 

“Okay everybody, the summer break is coming up in six weeks, but before that there is this years’ exwire authorization exam.” Okumura-sensei stated after he finished his lecture. “Since its purpose is to provide combat experience rather than just to make exwires, the exam won’t be easy.”

 

“Combat experience?” Inari heard Rin mutter to Shiemi. She replied softly, but Inari couldn’t hear her as clearly.

Ever since she had found out he was at least half demon; Inari had been hyperaware of his presence in a room. She could tune in to his aura easily now that she had realized it really was him, even though it usually too low to stand out much.

It was pretty obvious that his base element was fire; his aura was usually warm and cosy, like sitting underneath a kotatsu during a cold winter day, or warming up next to a crackling hearth fire. Only when he was very upset did it flare up to a dangerous inferno.

 

Okumura-sensei however didn’t even have a hint of an aura. It puzzled Inari as the two were supposed to be twins, but she had decided to keep her mouth shut until either one of the them came clean about it himself.

 

“Starting next week, I’ll be holding a one-week training camp to prepare for the examinations. If you wish to participate, fill in this form and write down which meister you aspire to earn.” With that Okumura-sensei stated handing out the forms.

He barely paused when he put Inari’s form on her desk, only shooting her another concerned look as he spotted her jumbled notes.

 

“Please hand the forms back in on Monday, good luck with your next lesson.”

 

After the young teacher left the classroom, everybody started talking. Inari stayed in her own seat, listening to the chatter around her. Kamiki was assuming she would be able to summon and already wrote down tamer, telling Paku it was obvious she would be able to summon for some reason or another. Paku was a lot less sure off herself.

“Oh well, you’ve got the entire weekend to decide.” Kamiki told her friend, waving off Paku’s concern. Inari silently wondered if Kamiki realized how dismissive she sounded.

 

On the other side of the classroom, the boys were talking loudly. Rin had sat down next to Konekomaru at some point, which Suguro protested to loudly.

“Oh come on Suguro, I just wanted to know which Meister you guys are going to choose!” Rin exclaimed loudly.

“Why do you want to know?” Suguro shot back.

“I’m interested in my classmates!”

Konekomaru chuckled and apparently answered Rin, as the shouting died down and Suguro grumbled something Inari couldn’t hear from her side of the classroom.

 

Shiemi was diligently filling out the form in front of her, a deep frown set on her face as she stared at the paper with something that looked like doubt from Inari’s point of view.

With a sigh she turned her attention back to her own form. She wrote down her name and age, stated she wanted to attend the training camp and then paused when she had to fill in her desired meister.

 

With the way Jun was behaving lately, she got the feeling that you needed to throw your whole life aside if that was what the Vatican desired of you, and she wasn’t sure she could do that. She didn’t want to do it either, but it seemed like she didn’t have much of a choice if she wanted to study demons.

 

The door opened and Neuhaus walked into the classroom, effectively cutting off all the chatter. Inari slid her form into her book bag with a sigh and turned her attention to the tall teacher.

The first time he had walked into the classroom, Inari had spent the whole class on edge. He had outright glared at her and Rin in a way that made her feel small and anxious, and She had been on her best behaviour to avoid giving him reason to call her out.

Now that he’d been teaching them a little longer the excess of fear had worn off, but Inari still felt a sense of weariness each time the man was near.

 

Neuhaus adjusted the black patch he wore over his left eye and pulled a stack of small, square papers out of his briefcase, which he handed to Shiemi to pass around.

“We’re going to have a practical today, please move to the desks to the side of the classroom, we will need the space.”

 

It didn’t take long for the front of the room to be cleared of the desks, and when he had enough space, Neuhaus-sensei started to draw a large, detailed circle. Inari felt a little hesitant to get closer to the teacher, but as her classmates crowded around the chalked lines, she didn’t have much of a choice.

 

She decided to stand in between Rin and Shiemi, on the other side of the circle from where Neuhaus-sensei was standing. Rin leaned forward, taking in the many details and scripts that lined the circle. Inari glanced down at her square of paper, which was missing those scripts, and realized that the larger circle could be used to trap a demon. Without saying a word, she reached out for Rin’s sleeve and pulled him back.

 

Neuhaus saw the gesture and gave an approving nod in her direction.

“Do not step on the drawing,” He stated. “Because if you do, the circle will be broken and loose it’s effect. I’m going to use this particular circle to show you a summoning.”

 

Murmurs broke out again, and Inari couldn’t help the twinge of excitement that fluttered around in her own gut. She had never seen a summoning as neither Jun nor Juuzo were tamers.

 

“All you need besides the circle is the appropriate chant and your blood.” The teacher stretched his arm over the chalk lines and let some blood drip from his soaked bandage.

“Son of Thypoeus and Echidna, answer my call and come forth.” There was a sudden gust of wind around the circle and a dark shape rose up from the lines.

 

Inari could feel the blood drain from her face as she was faced with the quadruped creature in the middle of the chalk lines. It gave off a feeling off death and decomposition that made her stomach churn violently.

“There are very few people who can summon a demon to use as a familiar.” Neuhaus continued his lesson. Inari didn’t know if he didn’t realize or didn’t care that some of his students were obviously uncomfortable. Renzo had his hand clasped over his mouth and nose, Shiemi had taken a step back and Paku was shaking.

“A naberius,” Suguro said in awe from the other side of the circle, while Inari was still fighting to keep her lunch down.

 

“Are you alright Inari?” Rin whispered from beside her. “I’m fine,” Inari answered through gritted teeth. She tried to give him a reassuring smile, but his expression only grew more worried. “Your nose is bleeding.”

Inari raised her hand to her face in surprise, to find that there was indeed a small trickle of blood running from her nose to her upper lip. She wiped it away with her finger. “It’s nothing.” She reassured him as she pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket.

 

Neuhaus continued his lesson without a pause.

“Sheer force of will is necessary to summon, but natural talent is also necessary. Now we’ll be testing you to see if you have that talent. Put some of your blood on the circle on the paper you received at the start of class, and recite whatever words come to mind.”

 

Kamiki didn’t hesitate for a moment. She pricked her finger with a needle and smeared the blood across her paper.

“I ask the grace of the gods of harvest. Grant my wishes, leave none unfulfilled!”

In a gust of wind and temple chimes, two white foxes appeared at her feet. The presence of the Kitsune drove the aura from the naberius off a little, and Inari found herself gratefully nodding her head at them in a miniature bow.

Neither of them responded visibly, but their aura swelled a little more.

 

“Two white foxes, well done Kamiki Izumo,” Neuhaus said looking at the demons appreciatively.

“Amazing Izumo-chan!” Paku chimed in. “ I’m useless at this though.”

“Well, I’m the daughter of a Shrine maiden after all,” Izumo stated, beaming at all the attention she was getting.

 

Her satisfaction with herself only grew as Shima, Miwa and Suguro all failed to summon a familiar. Rin didn’t even try. Shiemi bites her lip in thought before making a decision.

“I-I’ll do it too!” she exclaimed before gently pricking her finger.

She put the drop of blood that welled up on her paper and then paused for a moment.

“Come out, come out wherever you are-“ another pause “- just kidding,” she gave a soft giggle, convinced nothing would happen.

 

It did take a moment, but then there was a sudden pop of green light and the smell of freshly cut grass as a tiny figure landed on her piece of paper.

“That’s a greenman spirit. Wonderful, Moriyama Shiemi.” Neuhaus nodded.

“Nii~” it cried out, waving a stubby paw in Shiemi’s direction.

“He-hello,” the girl managed shyly. The greenman decided they should get familiar with each other as soon as possible, and jumped to cling to Shiemi’s hair. “Oh! That tickles!”

 

“Hey Kamiki-san,” She started after a moment, and Izumo’s face clouded over for a moment, annoyed that she wasn’t the only summoner in class anymore. “I also managed to call a familiar!

 

Inari suspected that Shiemi only wanted to reach out and befriend Izumo, but the girl was obviously feeling mocked. Suddenly, a malicious smile crossed Izumo’s face before she returned fire.

“Good for you, it’s amazingly tiny and cute!” and therefor completely unsuitable as a familiar to assist in fights.

 

The jab completely went over Shiemi’s head and she beamed. “Th-thank you!”

“It looks like we’ve got some budding tamers this year,” Neuhaus stated over Izumo’s badly muffled snickering. “Tamers who can fight with their summoned demons are highly valued among exorcists. Demons never follow somebody weaker then themselves.” Izumo puffed out her chest a little more, and now Inari was completely done with the girl. She raised her hand and waited for Neuhaus to acknowledge her.

 

“Can I still try Neuhaus-sensei?” she asked. She hadn’t originally planned to try, but Izumo needed to be knocked down a peg.

“Of course,” the teacher said.

 

Inari took a step forward and absently rubbed the skin underneath her nose. Her finger came back wet with fresh blood, as the nosebleed still hadn’t stopped completely. Well, at least it saved her the effort of pricking her finger. She wiped her finger across her paper and paused for a moment.

 

“Wielder of fire, heed this call,” she started reciting the words that popped up in her mind. “Come forth and protect your brother’s blood.”

A large tongue of fire shot out of the paper, startling Inari so badly that she dropped it. The flame fell to the ground in front of her and grew, burning away some of the coal-tar that had been drawn to the Naberius that was still standing in the chalk circle behind it.

 

The orange flames spread until they took on a shape Inari could recognize through the light. After the shape was formed, the flames died down until a large fox was left in their place. His red fur flickered with sparks which made it look like he was coated in embers and four large, white tipped tails splayed out behind him. There was a glint of silver between them, but the fox shifted his tails before Inari got a better glance of it.

 

The second after he materialized, the fox bend his forelegs and bared his teeth. He glared around the circle of people with a soft growl. The threat was clear, and Inari waited for him to take the initiative.

 ** _“Who dared summon me?”_** The voice sounded in her head like most demon voices did, but there was something more personal about it. A quick glance in Rin’s direction revealed that the boy hadn’t heard him.

 

Inari squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. “I did,” she said, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice. She had forgotten about out doing Izumo completely, too intrigued (and if she was honest worried) by the demon in front of her. Some how his presence felt familiar, although she was unable to place it.

 

 ** _“What is your name,”_** the fox growled, still hunched and ready to attack. Inari’s classmates had all backed away from the two off them, but she could see Neuhaus inching closer out of the corner of her eye.

“I am Yukimura Inari, daughter of Yukimura Aiko and a Kitsune. I’m a fox of the wind.” She answered using the introduction Ukobach had taught her.

 

 ** _“You dare lie to me?! Inari died when she was a kit!”_** This time the fox didn’t bother to contain his speech to his summoner, and Rin started forward as the fox prepared to leap.

Inari threw out her arm in the boy’s direction to stop him and pulled up her aura. Revealing her own teeth she growled a warning at her familiar, but the fox had stopped in his tracks already, his threatening body language making place for utter confusion. If she wasn’t so high strung, Inari might have found his dumbfounded expression funny. Who thought a fox could look that bewildered.

 

 ** _“You died,”_** the fox repeated as the sparks in his fur grew into a roaring fire again. The flames changed shape and died down to reveal a tall man wearing a traditional black kimono. He had sharp features and reddish brown hair that was sparked the same way his fox fur did. Inari felt a jolt as she saw the colour of his eyes and the shape of his cheekbones, so similar to hers.

 

“Inari,” he sighed aloud, reaching out to touch her cheek gently. **_“You’ve grown so much,”_** he added silently. Before Inari could reply, the man’s eyes widened. He quickly pulled her into a hug and kissed her head.

**_“Call me again, little niece.”_ **

Inari raised her arms to return the hug, but before she could he was gone.

 

“If you ever feel unsafe, tear the paper. This will destroy the summoning circle and relieve the familiar of his post.” Neuhaus stated, as if he hadn’t just ruined a special reunion. He was holding the piece of paper Inari had dropped when the fox had first appeared. The circle was almost torn in half and Inari realized what happened.

“Yukimura Inari, you are not to summon that familiar again without at least an upper second class exorcist present.” He told her. "Your inability to control it presents too much of a danger to your classmates"

 

Inari’s eyes widened at that. She hadn't tried to control the fox, that was true, but after he had determined her identity, she hadn't needed to either. Forbidding her from summoning him without an authorized exorcist made it impossible to speak to the fox any time soon. Most of the teachers were middle class exorcist, only Neuhaus himself held the upper rank, and he knew Inari would not seek him out on her own.

Inari's eyes stung. She hadn’t even learned her familiar’s name, her _uncle’s_ name, and now she wasn’t allowed to call him again? She was unable to stand the worried faces of her classmates or Izumo’s silent gloating. With teary eyes she grabbed her book bag of the ground and ran out of the classroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally here! I'm pretty happy with the way this chapter turned out, so i'm really looking forward to the feedback!
> 
> The notifications I get in my mail make my days a little brighter, and I'm grateful for the wonderful response. 
> 
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	11. Chapter 11

With a soft sigh, Inari sat down next to Rin on the porch of the abandoned dormitory. Okumura-sensei was standing a little to her right, arms folded sternly across his chest. They were waiting for the other cram school students to arrive at the dormitory for their weeklong exwire-exam training camp. Inari had arrived early as her last lesson had been cancelled, which had given her some extra time to pack her overnight bag.

She was feeling a bit anxious, as if something were to happen in the next few days, but then again, she had been feeling off ever since her phone call with Jun, and it didn’t help that the date they’d argued over was coming up the weekend directly after the camp. Neither of them had reached out afterwards, and the past week had been the longest Inari had ever gone without talking to her brother.

She was a little ashamed of her last words to Jun, but she didn’t want to take them back either. The fact that he chose not to come home for the anniversary of their grandmother’s death next weekend was so upsetting that she couldn’t bring herself to apologize just yet.

Inari was pulled out of her musings when Rin sighed loudly.

“Shiemi’s totally become her servant…” he said, glaring at the ground in front of him.

“What?” Okumura-sensei -who hadn’t heard his older brother- asked, but Rin shrugged it off.

“It’s nothing. Why are we holding the camp here anyway?”

Okumura-sensei scrunched up his nose. “Because we’re the only ones living here, the normal students all live in the new nicer dorms.” He explained slowly, as if he was talking to a child. Inari had noticed he’d speak to his brother that way every now and then.

“No body will bother us here.”

 The conversation came to a halt when the other students arrived.

“Good morning everybody,” Okumura-sensei greeted them. They didn’t react to his greeting immediately; instead gawking at the abandoned dormitory they would be staying in.

“What the hell is that? It looks like a haunted hotel,” Bon exclaimed.

“It’s creepy,” Izumo agreed. “Isn’t there any place better than this?” She asked, before shoving her bag into Shiemi’s arms.

Rin softly growled at that - and Inari shuddered as she felt his strong aura flare up for a moment- but it was Paku who actually said something about the situation.

“Mo-Moriyama-san, if you don’t want to do it, you should say so!”

“Oh, but I want to do it, Paku-san!” Shiemi exclaimed enthusiastically. “Because it’s helping my friend!”

“I… see…,” Paku replied, obviously taken aback by how cheerful Shiemi seemed.

 

When everybody had entered the building, Okumura-sensei assigned the rooms. The boys would get rooms on the second floor, and the girls would sleep on the floor above.

“We’ve prepared two rooms for the girls, so you’ll have to pair up,” Okumura-sensei stated. “Any preferences?”

Inari immediately took her chance.

“I’d like to room with Shiemi,” She said before anybody else could speak.

Okumura-sensei looked up from his room plan, shot a look between the determined Inari and Shiemi who was shooting hesitant glances in Izumo’s direction, and then nodded in agreement.

“Okay, the two of you can share the first room on the right from the stairs,” he stated. “Paku-kun, Kamiki-kun you’ll have the room across from it, you can go and unpack your stuff.”

“Come on Shiemi,” Inari said as their teacher started dividing up the boys. She grabbed her overnight bag from the floor and made her way to the stairs. Shiemi followed behind her on a little run, almost tripping as she hauled her own bag along.

“Need some help?” Inari asked softly as Shiemi reached the stairs a moment after she did. With a dark blush, Shiemi nodded.

Inari took Shiemi’s bag and continued up the stairs. The extra weight didn’t really bother her. After discovering her weight loss, she and Ukobach had set up a meal plan and cut down on training. She had gained back most of her original weight and even acquired some extra strength she attributed to her demon blood.

 

The room the girls would share for the rest of the week looked like it had been thoroughly cleaned, and two brightly white matrasses sat on the wooden bedframes on opposite sides of the room.

“You got any preference for a side, Shiemi?” Inari asked as she set the two bags on the floor. The blonde girl startled at the question.

“P-preference?” she asked with a bit of a squeak.

“Yeah, I don’t mind sleeping on either side, so you can choose which bed you want.” Inari clarified.

Shiemi hesitated for another moment before walking to the bed on the left side of the room.

“I’ll take this one, if you don’t mind.”

-

After dinner Okumura-sensei moved everybody into an empty dorm room where he had set up a large low table. He gestured for the students to sit down and handed out test papers upside down.

“ You’ve got 45 minutes to fill in this test, after that you are free for the evening. The last two questions are based on the meister you filled in on the application form, so think them through thoroughly.” He explained when everybody had taken out writing utensils. He gave the students a moment to ask questions, and then started the timer on his watch.

“You can start now.”

The students made their test in complete silence, working out the questions as quickly as possible as 45 minutes was quite short for a twenty-question test made by Okumura-sensei.

Inari didn’t find the test to be particularly challenging. The questions about pharmacology and grimoire studies were a little harder than they had handled during classes, but she managed to answer most of them, and she was reasonably sure that most of her answers were correct.

She paused a moment when she reached the last two questions, surprised to see they were based on the Tamer meister. She hadn’t specified which meister she would pursue on the registration form she’d handed in, and after being banned from summoning again, she had expected the Tamer meister to be strongly discouraged for her. There were few tamers who couldn’t summon after all.

The first question – In which grimoire was the process of summoning demon first described – wasn’t hard. The answer was ‘in the grimoire of Osthanes’, which had been discussed in Grimoire Studies earlier in the term. One of the original copies supposedly was kept in a Vatican library.

The second question made Inari mad. “Why don’t demons obey their summoner when those are weaker then them?” In the back of her mind she realized it was a perfectly fair question for a tamer examination, but it felt like a personal attack on her after the summoning test. After the next lesson Neuhaus-sensei had told her he had cut her summoning short because she’d never be able to overpower her familiar. The fox she had summoned had four tails, and would be considered far more powerful then she would ever be with her seal.

But still, he hadn’t actually attacked her after Inari had cleared up the confusion about her identity by showing him her aura. Didn’t that count for something? 

“Because those weaker then them can’t offer them anything” She wrote down as her answer on the dotted line. She pushed the pencil too hard as she tried to control her anger, leaving deep lines in the paper.

Inari got up as quietly as she could, handed the worksheet to Okumura-sensei and left the room, making a conscious effort not to slam the door as she left so that the others could finish in peace. Okumura-sensei didn’t stop her, obviously worried about disturbing the other students too.

For a moment Inari pushed her aura through her seal. In the period since her argument with Jun, she had learned that releasing small amounts of her power that way relieved some of her tension, as if a pressure valve was turned open to release building steam.

The weekend after that disastrous lesson, Inari had locked herself in one of the abandoned dorm’s rooms. She had drawn a summoning circle and tried to call the fox, but Neuhaus-sensei’s prohibition had activated the Academy’s wards, and no matter how hard she tried, she had been unable to call the fox to her.

 

Inari walked to the room she shared with Shiemi. When she entered she paused for a moment, feeling heavy with all the stress the passed few weeks had given her. For the umpteenth time that day she considered just calling Jun to apologize. Her phone was on the desk, turned off. With a sigh she turned away from it. Jun was the one in the wrong here, not her. To distract herself, Inari gathered her toiletries and grabbed a towel. She would just take an nice, long bath. 

A quick glance at the baths on the girl’s floor told Inari that they had fallen in disrepair, and a quick spray down wouldn’t change much about the layer of grime that coated pretty much every tiled surface. With a sigh she went down a floor and pushed open the door to the women’s bath. She idly wondered how long ago it had been that the dormitory was co-ed, as it had been the boys dorm before it was abandoned a decade ago. 

This bathroom was clean, and Inari smiled as she toed of her shoes. She chose a cubby close to the washing area to put them in, and then pulled the tie that kept her hair pulled back in a ponytail out. She pulled her brush from her toiletry bag and started to untangle her hair with soft strokes of the brush. It was nice to have some time to herself, being alone in the baths was highly unusual in the girl’s dorm. 

After she was sure there were no more knots in her hair, Inari twisted it into a high bun she secured with a hair tie, and took off her uniform’s sweater vest. She had just unbuttoned the top three buttons of her shirt when she heard voices on the other side of the door. They sounded surprisingly loud in the tiled room, so she went to check if she had closed the door entirely, but froze in her tracks as Kamiki’s voice filtered through.

“- outside for us?”

“Huh? Why..?” Shiemi asked a lot quieter.

“Because I don’t want you to see me naked. You should be able to understand since we’re friends.” Kamiki didn’t give Shiemi much of a chance to reply to her statement. “But you don’t have to wait all that time, you can go buy me some Fruit milk for when I get out of the bath.”

Inari went back to her cubby, grabbed her stuff and stormed to the exit of the room, quickly slipping into her shoes as Kamiki opened the door.

“Don’t worry Kamiki, Shiemi and I will take a bath later. Wouldn’t want you to feel self conscious, would we?” Inari sneered as she pushed passed Kamiki and Paku, who was looking very conflicted by the situation.

Inari slammed the door behind her, almost shaking in anger about the way Kamiki had treated Shiemi. Said girl was still standing in the hallway in front of the bathroom doors, with a distraught look on her face. Shiemi slowly turned around, walking in the direction of the stairs.

 

“Shiemi, wait,” Inari called. She hurried after the blond girl, who did not stop walking.

In fact, she almost bumped into Rin as she didn’t look where she was going.

“What are you doing?” Rin asked, sipping from a juice carton.

“I have to buy some fruit milk,” Shiemi answered, trying to walk around Rin. At that moment Inari had caught with up with her, and she quickly grabbed Shiemi’s arm.

“You don’t, Shiemi,” she protested, gently squeezing the girl’s arm in a comforting gesture. “You are not an errand girl, you don’t have to wait on Kamiki’s beck and call.”

“It’s weird,” Rin interjected, and Inari shot the boy a heated glare. That’s not helping, she thought. Rin didn’t react to her look, instead blushing furiously as he caught sight of her unbuttoned shirt.

Feeling embarrassed Inari let go and turned away to redo her buttons quickly.

“Shiemi, I understand you tried to be her friend, but you don’t treat friends the way she’s been treating you the past few days,” she explained while she finished with her shirt.

“I’m helping a friend!” Shiemi protested as Inari turned back to look at her. “I am always hiding behind somebody, always being helped, and I hate it! I want to be strong and help somebody for once, this is the first time I’ve ever made a friend!”

That last statement rubbed Inari the wrong way, and she could feel Rin’s indignation flare up too.

“Oh, so she’s the first friend you’ve made?” She asked, a hint of anger creeping back into her voice. “Tell me, has she invited you to go places with her?” after a moment of hesitation, Shiemi shook her head. “Has she shown any interest in your home life besides the fact you can get her ingredients for Pharmacology?” another shake. “Has she _ever_ taken any initiative to spend time with you, like offering to bunk together?”

“No, but you were fast-“

“No she hasn’t done any of that.” Inari cut Shiemi off. “Rin and I have tough, and I’m hurt you consider somebody whose been treating you so badly a friend, while you reject Rin’s and my friendship even though we have already proven to like spending time with you.” Inari snapped. Without giving Shiemi time to react, she turned away from her and Rin and walked towards the stairs. 

“Oi, Inari, shouldn’t we talk about this?” Rin called after her. “I’m not sure I feel like it,” Inari snapped back from the second step of the stairs.

Loud screaming coming from the bathrooms prevented further discussion, and Rin was already running down the hallway in their direction as Inari leapt down the few steps and raced passed Shiemi. 

“Rin, go get Okumura-sensei and the others. Shiemi, come with me!” She called out. A sense of dread settled in her stomach, but she ignored it

“I can help!” Rin protested.

“You are about to storm into the women’s bath,” Inari shouted at him. “Where two girls were just undressing when the danger turned up!”

For the second time Rin’s face flared up, and Inari would have laughed if she hadn’t been so worried. “Go get your brother Rin, Shiemi and I will be able to hold of whatever just attacked for a moment!”

Rin nodded and turned to run down the stairs instead while Inari threw open the door to the bathroom.

 

Kamiki was in her underwear, trembling in between the cubbies as the two white foxes she had summoned turned on her, jumping towards her with bared teeth.

Inari jumped in front of her and pulled an aura, stopping the foxes in their tracks.     “ ** _How dare you attack your summoner?!”_** she growled, pouring as much aura into her voice as she could as she glared them down. The foxes slunk back a little, aggression still obvious in their body language. “Tear the paper Kamiki” Inari barked at the trembling girl.

“ ** _When she summons, you shall not attack again or I will have your tails taken.”_** Inari didn’t know where the threat she uttered came from, but it was enough to scare the white foxes into submission, and they backed away before disappearing as Kamiki tore the paper she had used to summon them. 

With the immediate threat to Kamiki removed, Inari let her gaze flicked towards where Paku was lying on the floor. She had some nasty wounds on her cheek and shoulder, caused by the big, two headed naberious looming in the threshold of the washing area. Another wave of nausea washed over Inari, and for a moment she was unable to move as the demon continued dripping disgusting black miasma. It’s aura hung thickly in the room, smothering her senses and robbing her of breath.

Shiemi bursting through the door broke Inari out of her terrified daze, and the girl shot into action.

“Shiemi, Paku has ghoul wounds, do you now how to treat them?” she asked quickly.

The blonde girl nodded hesitantly. “Good, go help her while I distract the demon.”

Inari started forward, before hesitating a moment and turning to Kamiki.

“Kamiki-san, get dressed and help Shiemi. Help is on the way.” 

For a moment Inari wondered if Kamiki was in shock, because the girl only nodded and grabbed her clothing out of the cubby she was standing next too. While Shiemi and Kamiki focussed on Paku, Inari approached the demon. She was already pulling on her fox fire, letting wind swerve around her in a protective whirlwind. She tried to distract it’s attention from the girls behind her, giving them time to help Paku. Her energy drained fast, and she silently prayed to whatever deity would listen to her that Rin and Okumura-sensei would hurry up.

The Naberious reached out to her, it’s grotesque hand flinching back as the swirls of wind hit against it. The demon cried out in anger, it’s swelling aura triggering another wave of nausea, and Inari realised her nose was bleeding again too. Did all summoned demons have that effect on her?

“Why are you here?” she asked loudly, but the demon didn’t answer. It moved into the direction of the other girls when the scent of aloe filled the air.

“Oh no you don’t,” Inari muttered. She grabbed a stool from the washing area, and hit the naberious across the left head with as much force as she could muster. The rot demon stumbled back a little, but recovered fast and it’s arm shot out to grab at Inari.

Her whirlwind didn’t stop it for it long, and before Inari could duck away, it had grabbed her throat and slammed her against the ground. She cried out in pain, and blood dripped into her mouth from the nosebleed that was only getting worse with the demons proximity.

“Get away!” she cried and with all her might she forced a burst of wind to push more air in between them. It forced the demon to loosen the tight grip it had on her throat, but he didn’t let go. Instead he pulled her up and threw her through the glass dividers. She felt the glass slice through the skin on her back before she hit the ground.

Inari was too dazed with pain to do anything as the demon approached, her vision was swimming, and black crept along the edges.

The door to the bathroom burst open and Rin burst in.

 

“Stay away from her!” He cried out, rushing forward as his brother followed shortly.

“ ** _My Prince_** ,” the demon uttered in a groan. “ ** _This is the bidding of my master_** ” It turned back towards Inari, but was stopped by a rain of bullets. Now that there was a professional exorcist, the demon decided to cut it’s losses and fled away. 

Rin rushed forward, gently lifting Inari out the mess of broken glass. Okumura-sensei approached, worry etched on his face.

“Paku’s got a ghoul wound,” Inari managed. “Please check on her.”

“You’re pretty banged up yourself Inari,” Rin protested, carefully shifting his arm a little higher so that it wouldn’t press against the cuts on her back.

“Ghoul wounds necrotize,” Inari explained weakly. “I only have a few cuts.”

Rin opened his mouth to reply, probably saying something along the lines of “You’re worse of than that,” but Inari didn’t hear it, instead she passed out. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading everybody! I know that this was a long wait, but I'm pretty happy with how the chapter turned out. I'll try to get chapter 12 out a little faster, but I am not making any promises.
> 
> Please let me know what you thought, I am so happy to read all the comments to this story!


	12. Chapter 12

Inari had barely fallen asleep when she jerked awake again, heart wildly thumping in her chest. She shot quick looks around the room to find out what had woken her up, but nothing was out of order. The curtains they had made from unused towels were still in front the windows, blocking out the light from the streetlight below and Shiemi was still sleeping soundly, softly snoring with each breath.

 

With a sigh Inari closed her eyes again and snuggled a little deeper underneath the blankets. She was forced to sleep on her side, as her fall through the glass divider in the bathroom had left her with a few nasty cuts on her back and shoulders.

 

Okumura-sensei had checked her over extensively after she woke up from her exhaustion induced faint, and it had taken him twenty minutes to get all of the broke glass out of her skin with a pair of tweezers.

The cuts were all the encounter with the naberious left Inari with, and only one of them was deep enough to warrant stitches. Her nose had quickly stopped bleeding after the demon had fled, and despite hitting her head on the tiles, she didn’t have a concussion. All in all, she had been very lucky. The only thing she couldn’t shake was the anxiety that made her stomach churn and her sleep light.

 

Paku had been off a lot worse, with the two large burns on her skin that would likely hurt terribly for at least a week, and a fever caused by the miasma that had burned her in the first place. According to Okumura-sensei, she would get better without lasting problems, which was a great relief to all the cram school students. When everybody had calmed down, Paku had told them she was going to quit the cram school, and who could blame her?

 

A flutter across her face sent Inari upright again, her heart pounding as she scanned the room a second time. A little Coal tar had squeezed itself through a crack near the window and floated across the room, it’s green eyes staring at her unblinkingly.

The tiny speck was harmless on it’s own, but as a rot demon it’s aura had a grimy quality to it that made Inari feel tense.

 

She tried to get back to sleep, but she couldn’t get the image of the naberious out of her head. The presence of the little coal tar didn’t disappear, and every time it came closer it shot her into a state of high alert.

After a while Inari had enough. She wrapped one of her blankets around her shoulders, stepped into her slippers, and left the room.

 

Inari regretted it the moment she’d pulled the door shut behind her. The emptiness of the hallway held a feeling of threat, and the sweatpants and the tank top she slept in didn’t make her feel any less vulnerable.

Despite how often she had been in the building, with her extracurricular training and tutoring Rin, the dorm had a different atmosphere at night, and it scared her. It obviously wasn’t as secure as Okumura-sensei had assured them before the camp started. The naberious had been a relatively high-class demon; it shouldn’t have been able to get into the academy town, let alone the dorm with its extra wards, so the dorm obviously wasn’t as secure as the teacher had told them.

 

It took some effort, but finally Inari got her body to move, and she made her way to the staircase. She wasn’t sure where to go, but she didn’t want to stay out in the open hallway. She drew a deep breath and slowly walked down the stairs, resisting the urge to break into a sprint. Breaking her neck because she fell down the stairs was the last thing she needed.

 

She paused at the landing, feeling drawn to the twins’ dorm room. She walked up to the door and paused. Behind it she could feel the faintest flicker of Rin’s aura, calm and warm with his sleep. It drove away the last remains of the nausea she hadn’t been able to shake after the demon encounter and with a content sigh she reached out for the door handle. When the cold metal hit her skin she snapped out of her trance, and she hastily stepped back, almost tripping over her own feet.

 

Inari fled down the stairs, very glad that there had been nobody to see her almost sneaking into the twins’ dorm. The implications that would come with that were not something she wanted to deal with.

 

The ground floor was dark, except for the thin strip of light that escaped from underneath the kitchen doors. She made her way towards the kitchen, trying to ignore the unease creeping up again.

As she came closer Inari could smell the scent off cooking meat. Ukobach had been tasked with cooking their meals -as Rin didn’t have the time to cook for all of them everyday- and Inari knew he mostly worked at night. She knocked on the doors and waited for Ukobach to acknowledge her.

**_“Come in, Kogitsune-san”_ **

Inari opened the door and slipped into the stove spirit’s territory. The bright light was harsh on her eyes, and she blinked heavily while her pupils adjusted. Ukobach was standing on the stove, stirring in a frying pan that contained pieces of pork.

 

The kitchen felt like the safest space in the abandoned dorm, guarded by the small demon that was always excited to talk to her. His aura radiated with the warmth Inari was starting to associate with fire demons, and while it felt somewhat meeker than Rin’s, it made Inari pause for a second to sense it better.

 

After a moment the purple demon looked up from his task, giving Inari a once over.

 ** _“Why are you awake at this hour?”_** He questioned before he went back to stirring. Inari gave a shrug and made her way to the counter. She stayed a few paces away from the stove as not to disturb Ukobach in his task.

“Couldn’t sleep,” she answered vaguely. She tugged her blanket a little tighter around her shoulders and leant a little bit closer to smell the scent of his cooking.

 

 ** _“Huh, I expected you to be dead asleep after yesterday’s affairs”_** Ukobach commented. He sniffed his food and reached for the bottle of mirin a little to his left.

“You knew about it?” Inari asked in surprise. Irritation bubbled up in her gut, and she used too much force when she slid the bottle in Ukobach’s direction. Ukobach managed to catch it before it went flying off the counter, but he chittered at her wordlessly in irritation.

 

 ** _“A demon of that class is hard not to notice.”_** Ukobach muttered while he continued cooking.

“And you didn’t think we needed your help?” Inari bit out. “Do you know how hard it was to hold that thing away from the others? Rot is my conquering element! If you had been there we could’ve used your fire and-“

 

 ** _“I am a familiar Inari!”_** Ukobach interrupted her. It was disconcerting to hear him use her real name; he had never done so before. He had explained to her that names were more important to demons, and the right to use a demon’s name was something not easily granted. He was a low rank demon, and bound to somebody by way of a familiar contract, which made Inari a higher demon in his eyes, sealed or not.

**_“You seem to be under the impression that I chose to live in an abandoned dorm kitchen, but my summoner has bound me to this place. I can not leave without his explicit permission!”_ **

****

Inari felt herself pale but couldn’t find the words to reply to his outburst. Ukobach turned away for a moment and turned off the gas. When he faced her again, he seemed a little bit calmer.

 

 ** _“I wanted to help you, Kogitsune-san”_** he said softly. **_“You shouldn’t have had to face your natural enemy on your own, but I am bound to this kitchen. I can not interact with any of you outside of it, and I had assumed that the Prince would take care of the abomination.”_**

****

Inari nodded slowly, feeling ashamed of her earlier accusation.

“I’m sorry Ukobach,” she whispered. Ukobach’s face softened a little and he turned back to the stove.

**_“Sit at the table, I’ll make you some tea.”_ **

 

While Ukobach boiled water, Inari fidgeted with the edge of her blanket. The hour was starting to pull on her, but she didn’t want to go back to her room without talking things over with Ukobach.

The little demon placed a steaming teacup on the table in front of her, and then hopped off the table to go back to the stove.

“Ukobach, could you sit with me for a while?” Inari asked. Ukobach hesitated for a moment, before sitting down at the table.

 

They sat together in silence for a while, and Inari didn’t know how to restart the conversation.

She wrapped her hands around the steaming cup and sniffled.

“Kukicha?” she asked in an attempt to distract herself from her whirling thoughts. It wouldn’t do to start crying.

Ukobach grunted softly. “ ** _It is best not to drink much caffeine at this hour.”_**

 

There was another beat of silence, before Inari gathered the courage to ask another question.

“Ukobach, why do you and other demons call Rin ‘Prince’?”

The stove spirit jumped a little, giving her a wide-eyed look.

**_“What do you-“_ **

“I heard you call Rin ‘Young Prince’ a few weeks back, and that naberious just now made excuses to ‘his prince’.” Inari elaborated. She took a quick sip and waited expectantly for an answer.

 ** _“It is not my place Kogitsune-san,”_** Ukobach stated hesitantly. **_“Just know that it would be a grave insult to him if we addressed him as anything less.”_**

“So he’s Iblis’ son?” Inari asked after a yawn.

 

Ukobach startled badly this time. “ ** _How did you reach that conclusion?”_**

“Well, his nickname is prince, so it’s logical that he’s the son of one of the demon kings, and as he’s got a very fire like aura.” Inari explained. She put her head in her hand and fought to keep her eyes open.

**_“Aura?”_ **

“Hmm” Inari murmured. She put her head on her arms and closed her eyes for a moment.

“It’s really warm like yours, but more temperamental-” her voice trailed off and her breathing slowed down.

 

Ukobach quietly took her half empty cup from the table, poured the tea down the drain and released a long-suffering sigh.

It had been very lucky that Inari’s exhaustion had caught up with her before he was forced to answer her question.

 

-

 

Inari shot awake when the doors to the kitchen creaked open. Her blanket slid of her shoulders when she sat up, blearily looking back to the doors to see who’d entered.

A surprised Suguro stood in the doorway, looking back at her in surprise.

 

“Yukimura? What are you doing here?” he asked, scratching his neck. Suguro was wearing a tank top and running shorts, and judging by the way his hair stuck to his forehead, he’d just finished his morning run. Was it really morning already?

 

Inari muffled her yawn behind her hand and stretched.

“I went down for some tea last night, guess I fell asleep.” She shrugged, trying not to show she was startled by how long she’d slept. “How late is it anyway?”

“Half past five. Okumura-sensei wants to go through the test in half an hour, so I went running early today.” Suguro said before making his way to the large refrigerator.

 

Without the blanket it was cold in the kitchen, and Inari couldn’t help but shiver as cold air moved around her in a draught. When she got up to close the door properly while Suguro poured himself a glass of orange juice, she knocked something of the table. It fell to the floor with a clatter, and when Inari bended over to pick it up, she was surprised that the plastic didn’t break. It was a long, thin stove lighter, seemingly never used. Which wasn’t a surprise, as neither Ukobach nor Rin actually needed it to light their cooking fires.

 

The little demon was nowhere in sight, but Inari whispered a thanks into the air anyway as she shoved the lighter into the pocket of her sweatpants.

“I’m going to go change, Suguro. See you in a bit,” Inari told Suguro before leaving the kitchen.

 

Because of the good start of her day (despite sleeping in a chair in an industrial kitchen) Inari had hoped the rest of it would be good too, but she was sorely disappointed. Going through the test wasn’t a big deal - Okumura-sensei had even approved of her answer to the tamer questions – and the regular school day went by soon enough.

No, the morning was fine, but everything went downhill during cram classes.

 

The classroom felt empty without Paku, and the atmosphere was sombre with the reminder that the girl had dropped out after almost dying the day before. Izumo wasn’t looking good either. She was distracted; she had dark circles underneath her eyes due to a lack of sleep, and kept glancing at the empty seat next to her. During Seals and Circles she wasn’t paying attention to the class, and in Aria class she was unable to remember the verse they were supposed to memorize as their homework.

 

Inari could practically feel the embarrassment radiating off of Kamiki when Suguro took over and recited the verse perfectly.

While Rin shouted a roundabout compliment at Suguro, Kamiki sunk down even further into her seat.

 

Angeline-sensei finished her lesson and left, giving the students some time to talk among themselves.

The only thing Inari did when her classmates start goading each other was dropping her head on her desk and groaning.

-

Inari was ready to strangle somebody, preferably Suguro or Kamiki. The entire cram class was in an empty dorm room, sitting in the seiza position with baryons weighing down on their legs.

“This is what we call ‘collective responsibility’,” Okumura-sensei lectured. “The aims of this training camp are twofold. Firstly to increase your personal abilities, and secondly to deepen your relations with your fellow students.”

 

‘This is only making me angry with my fellow students,” Inari grumbled underneath her breath, but Okumura-sensei either didn’t hear or decided not to respond.

“I refuse to get along with these brutes.” Kamiki stated in a haughty tone. Suguro already started a response, but Okumura-sensei cut the squabble of before it could properly begin.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to. No exorcist fights alone!”

 

The young teacher went into a lecture about teamwork Inari couldn’t be bothered to pay attention too. The baryon on her lap was trembling, and it felt like her bones were being grinded into dust.

“Now then, I have a minor mission to attend to, so I will be leaving for about three hours.” Okumura-sensei stated, looking at his wristwatch and Inari snapped back to attention, already dreading the rest of what he’d have to say.

 

“Considering the incident with the ghoul yesterday, I will be locking all entrances and exits to this building, and putting up powerful wards around it, just in case.”

There was some confused mumbling at that, but it was Suguro that objected first.

“Locking the exits? How are we supposed to get out of here?”

 

A strange look appeared on Okumura-sensei’s face, somewhat condescending if Inari were to put a name to it.

“There will be no need for you to leave.” He said evenly. “I’d like you to stay like this for the next three hours.” With that he turned around and walked out of the door.

 

Protest broke out from everybody, but Inari didn’t dare to open her mouth lest she would say something she would seriously regret. It took effort to rein her aura in, the tips of her ponytail were already starting to dance in the wind it was creating.

 

While Suguro tried to pick another fight with Kamiki (That Rin desperately tried to stop) Inari counted out the time Yukimura-sensei would need to leave the building without a teleportation key. When she was sure he wouldn’t be in the building anymore, she pushed the rock demon of her lap, grimacing at the angry red skin that peeked out from underneath her skirt where it had sat. The baryon rolled to the far end of the room, as far away from her as it could possibly go.

 

“What are you doing? Yuki said-“

“If you think I’m going to sit here and endure physical abuse because that guy thinks it is just punishment, you’ve got another thing coming.” Inari interrupted Shiemi through gritted teeth. She carefully prodded her legs and flinched at the pain that bloomed under her touch. That was going to leave an ugly bruise. She glanced at the baryons the others were holding and noticed none of them were trembling like hers had.

 

“He thinks he’s all that,” Inari grumbled underneath her breath as she got up. “Can’t even be bothered to take into account the stupid thing would be afraid of an air elemental.”

 

She wasn’t being entirely fair, most exorcist didn’t give much thought to the general elemental table when dealing with minor demons, they were usually so easily defeated that it wasn’t necessary to use their natural enemies. Air defeated earth, earth defeated water, water defeated fire, fire defeated rot, and finally rot overpowered air.

Exorcists only started using this when the demons they were faced with were high class.

It still annoyed Inari that Okumura-sensei had dropped an earth elemental in her lap. He was the one who suggested studying the chart after the incident with the goblin.

 

She carefully wiped up the traces of sand it had left behind and walked over to her bag in the corner. Maybe she could use her hand cream to sooth her raw skin a little.

 

As she pulled on her zipper, the lights suddenly cut out. Her classmates startled badly, dumping their own baryons and scrambling around for a light source. Eventually Suguro was the first person who managed to get to his phone and turn the flashlight on.

“Did that teacher go and cut the power?” he asked nobody in particular.

“No, he should be well out of the building by now,” Inari told him. She reached into her bag and felt around for the lighter, she had the feeling she would need it soon.

After a moment of thought she also grabbed her can of deodorant.

 

“A black-out then?” Rin offered.

“No, I can see lights out there through the window.” Konekomaru pointed out.

“So it’s restricted to this building?” Rin asked.

 

Shima got up and walked towards the door.

“Let’s go check out the corridor!” he said.

“Careful out there, Shima-san.” Konekomaru said quietly.

Shima didn’t react, instead he reached for the door.

 

“Isn’t this cool? It’s kinda like a real-life “test of courage” right?” He opened the door with a smile, and glanced out into the darkness, where a sown together face doomed up.

Without changing his expression, he pulled the door closed again.

“That’s odd, I think I’m seeing things.”

“That’s real!” Suguro shouted at the same time Inari cried out: “Get back here!”

 

Shima dove back towards the group as a decaying hand punched through the door.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally: Chapter 12! 
> 
> It's a bit of a filler chapter, but it didn't feel right to skip to the next part. I can't say when the next chapter will come out, because exams are coming up again, but I hope you'll stay tuned!
> 
> Let me know what you think, I love reading your comments!


	13. Chapter 13

Inari didn’t get the chance to sigh in relieve when Shima dove back to them, as the naberious that had broken down the door came crawling through the hole it had created. It was the same demon that had attacked them the day before, but it seemed to be even more malicious this time. 

The students huddled together, save for Takara and Yamada, who stayed were they were. Nobody spoke as they watched the thing in front of them.  
The demon stayed at a distance for a moment, one of its two heads swelling up in a way that reminded Inari of those science fair volcanoes that would be shown in anime. Her stomach twisted violently at the sight, and a sense of urgency took hold of her. She pushed Suguro to the side and released her aura as she stepped in front of the group. Right when the demon’s head exploded in a gruesome mimic of a flower, she released a burst of wind powerful enough to blow it back a few feet. 

The fluid it had tried to spew over them splattered on the floor without doing them harm, and then Shiemi shot into action.   
“Nii, I need Una-Una-kun!” She told her little familiar. She held up her palms and the little greenman sprouted the desired tree branches with a cute cry. Within a few seconds they had formed a thick maze that shielded them from the demon.   
The branches pierced through it with the sickening sound of tearing flesh and Inari suppressed a full-bodied shudder. 

“No way!” Rin exclaimed, looking at Shiemi in awe.   
“Thank you nii-chan!” Shiemi told her familiar sheepishly. It reacted with another happy cry. The branches on the far end were breaking beneath the force of the naberious’ attacks and the strength of its aura seemed to double. 

Inari stumbled back, sinking to the floor because her trembling legs couldn’t hold her upright anymore. It took an immense effort to bite back the bile rising in her throat and the tell tale trickle off blood was dripping out of her nose again.   
Suguro touched her shoulder, and she startled.   
“Are you okay?” he asked her softly, and Inari managed to nod. She set down the lighter and her can of deodorant and then started to undo the knot around her neck. She took of her necktie and bound it across her mouth and nose to filter the air she breathed in. It seemed to do the trick, as the nausea subsided a little and the demons’ aura felt a little dulled. 

Satisfied that Inari was not about to pass out, Suguro turned back to the rest of the group.   
“It looks like we’re safe for now, thanks to Moriyama-san’s quick thinking. But when she runs out of stamina, the barricade is gonna disappear.” He told them. “When that happens, we’re done for.”   
“I can’t get a hold of Yukio’s mobile either,” Rin announced, lowering his phone in disappointment. 

A particularly loud snap startled the group, and Inari shrunk back behind Rin and Suguro. She was a bit embarrassed by how badly she was effected, but nobody seemed to blame her.   
“Those things are really going at it over there…” Shima moaned.  
“Ghouls are more active in the dark.” Konekomaru said, casting a weary glance into the darkness behind the branches. Rin appeared deep in thought, mouth set in a grimace that promised something risky. 

“I’ll head outside and draw them off.” He decided. “If I can get both of them following me, then the rest of you should make a run for it.”   
“Are you crazy?” Konekomaru protested at the same time that Suguro cried out. “What are you talking about?”   
“If they don’t follow me, I’ll see what I can do about finding help or at least getting some light in here.” He turned around and set a foot on the branch in front of him, testing it’s strength. “Don’t worry about me, I’m pretty strong.” Rin said, ignoring the protest from various classmates. 

Inari watched him go with a frown. She wanted to call him back, ask him to use the fire he should possess to protect them, but apparently the boy wasn’t ready to reveal his heritage to their classmates yet.   
While Rin climbed away from them, the demons’ aura was lessened for a moment in a flash of warmth, and Inari got up. When the aura gained strength again, it wasn’t nearly as overwhelming as before Rin had left. 

“What a guy…” Shima muttered. “He only managed to get rid of one of them though, was it really worth it?”   
Behind him Shiemi sunk to her knees, breathing a little harder than she’d been before, the extend of energy she had to feed her familiar to keep up the barrier was already taking a toll on her.   
“Damn it all,” Suguro cursed. “Just sittin’ here doing nothing is not a choice right now! I’m gonna try a recital!”   
“But Bon, you don’t know that thing’s fatal verse do you?” Shima asked.   
“No, but Ghoul-type demons’ fatal verses tend to come out of the gospel of St. John.”   
“That’s twenty one chapters Suguro-san!” Inari stated incredulously. Her voice was muffled by the fabric off her tie, but she was sure he heard her perfectly.   
“I’ve memorised chapters one through ten,” Konekomaru piped up suddenly. “Allow me to help!”  
“Thanks Konekomaru!”

“Wait, Just hold on one moment!” Izumo butted in. “If you start reciting, they’ll go for you the moment they break through!”   
“That’s right,” Inari spoke up. “So that means we’ll need to protect them if that happens. I’m pretty much useless against rot demons, and I can’t summon my familiar, so you better control your byakko Kamiki.” 

The Klink of metal drew their attention back to Shima. He was pulling pieces of a metal rod from his shirt.   
“That’s our Bon for ya! A real man!” he assembled the pieces into a staff and swung it in the general direction of the branches. “ I haven’t memorised a single verse of that thing, so I’ll be your back-up if it comes to that!”   
Kamiki did not look happy about this.   
“But, this is insane!” she tried. 

“I don’t see another option.” Inari stated, shooting a glare in the girl’s direction. “You and shima defend Shiemi, Suguro-san and Miwa-san, I’m going after Rin.”   
“Are you insane too?” Kamiki cried out desperately.  
“Possibly,” Inari agreed as she grabbed her deodorant and shoved the can between the waistband of her skirt. ”But you heard Okumura-sensei, no exorcist fights alone. You’ve got a plan of attack I can’t help with, and I’ll be damned if I let Rin get killed out there.” She gripped the lighter a little bit tighter, and then hauled herself up the first branch. 

The bark scratched across her legs, aggravating the forming bruises, and Inari was glad her necktie muffled her hiss of pain. She climbed the branches as high as she could, and her back almost scraped the ceiling as she made her way towards the other side of the room. 

The branches shook with the hits the demon was dealing to the barrier, and Inari had to put a lot of effort into keeping her balance. She was almost at the door when the demon suddenly turned its attention to her. She yelped as it smashed the branch underneath her. It broke, and she went tumbling to the floor. 

By a small miracle Inari managed to break her fall without loosing her footing, and she ducked underneath the naberious’ reaching arm. It groaned at her and turned in her direction, but she was faster. Rin had left (smashed?) the door open when he’d left earlier, and Inari dove through the opening, sprinting through the dark hallway as fast as she could. She dared to glance over her shoulder to see if the demon was pursuing her, but it stayed in the door opening, following her only with its barely visible eyes. 

Inari didn’t run much farther, after rounding two corners she paused to lean against the wall. Her heart was thumping against her ribs, and she tore the necktie away from her face to try and get her breath back under control. Now that she was away from the demon’s aura, her mind was a bit clearer, and as she thought back on the demons’ behaviour she realized something wasn’t right. 

Ghouls were known to kill for procreation, using the bodies of their victims to allow a new ghoul to enter Assiah. If given the choice, they would go for easy victims like the lone half demon vulnerable to their element.   
And yet the naberious in the dorm room hadn’t followed her, instead staying back with the cram school students who were hidden behind a rather strong barrier. 

“It’s still bound to an exorcist!” Inari exclaimed into the empty hallway. Everything made sense now, how the demons had gotten into the dorm despite the wards, the blackout that didn’t spread passed the dorm… A tamer had sent his familiar after them, cutting the power to ensure that the ghoul wasn’t hindered by the buildings ligting.   
With a curse she pulled her necktie back across her face. If the demons were familiars, its summoner would be close by, and anybody who’d attack teenagers with demons of that high a class was dangerous.   
She tried not to think about the fact Rin had probably wandered straight into their arms. 

 

Inari arrived in the basement -where she had deduced the switchboard to be- just in time to see the “flower”-head naberious fling Rin over a railing to a lower level of the room. She could hear the boy curse violently, and suddenly a bright blue light flared up from where he had fallen out of view. 

Inari slunk back into the shadows near the switchboard, trying to gather her wits. Her family had never been involved with the world of exorcist. The only reason they knew about demons before Inari was born, was because her Grandmother had been the daughter of a Shinto priestess who’d perform exorcisms on Shinto demons from time to time.   
Inari’s birth had drawn extra demonic attention to what was left of their small family, and eventually they’d gotten involved with the knights of the true cross. So despite not having been influenced by the blue night herself, Inari was fully aware that blue light was a very bad sign. 

“Now, that’s what I wanted to see,” a voice drawled. “Those blue flames. Looks like you won’t use your powers in front of others, so I drew you out here, Okumura Rin.”   
Inari pressed her hands over her mouth to stifle the gasp that slipped out as she recognized Neuhaus-sensei’s voice.  
“Son of Satan.” 

Inari’s stomach clenched, and this time it wasn’t just because of the naberious nearby. She could perfectly understand Rin wanting to keep that tidbit about his parentage to himself, and now that had overheard it, she felt ashamed that she’d been trying to dig up his secrets. 

As quietly as she could Inari snuck to the switches. Most of them were flipped off, which explained the power-outage.   
She glanced over her shoulder. Beneath the railing the blue light had dimmed somewhat, and as she felt for Rin’s aura, she could feel its heath simmering nearby completely overtaking the presence of the Naberious.   
“It was you behind these attacks then? Are you even really a teacher?” Rin shouted at Neuhaus.   
“Well yes…” Neuhaus said nonchalantly, and for a moment Inari wasn’t sure which of the two questions he’d answered. “Now show me that power!”

Rin obliged, and a moment later he appeared above the railing, jumping an impressive height while he unsheathed his sword. When he dropped down towards the demon, Inari turned to the switchboard and flipped the switches back to their proper positions.  
The lights flared back on, but there was no time to see if it affected the demon. Rin stabbed his sword into the naberious with devastating power at the same moment, and the flames that consumed the demon were so bright they drowned out the light coming from the fluorescent lamps. 

The demon gave a final roar as the blue flames spread across it’s limbs, and then burned away, leaving only a nauseating smell of burnt flesh behind. 

Somehow Neuhaus had disappeared in the chaos, and Inari was left alone in the basement with Rin. It took a moment for the boy to see her. He complained about Neuhaus’ Houdini act aloud, turned around and came face to face with Inari as he looked up.   
The blood drained from his face and his jaw went slack.  
“You- when did you get here?” 

Inari felt like the whole world stopped as Rin fumbled to sheath his sword. When the hilt hit the edge of the sheath, the blue flames along Rin’s body disappeared and his ears shrunk back to their slightly pointed state, and for a moment it felt like nothing had changed. Rin’s body language quickly killed that thought though.   
“Did you hear-?” he managed, but his voice trailed off in the middle of his sentence and he didn’t pick it back up again. He was slouched in on himself and didn’t look at Inari.   
He seemed so insecure -so scared- that Inari couldn’t help but blurt out her thoughts.

“Holy shit, and I’ve been thinking you were Iblis’ kid this whole time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are roughly 15 thousand words in the gospel of St. John. When you speak at a normal tempo, reciting all that would take well over an hour and a half. Even divided by two with Konekomaru chiming in and speaking fast, it would still take over 45 minutes to recite every single word, It’s honestly insane that that worked, especially because it didn’t seem like they had 45 minutes. I rolled with it here, but I just wanted to point that out. 
> 
> This chapter is a little shorter than the previous ones, but I wanted to put something out before uni starts again. Please let me know what you think, your comments really help me in the writing process, if only for motivation to continue.


	14. Chapter 14

“Iblis’ son?” Rin repeated. His voice was a little higher than usual and he was fidgeting with his hands. Inari shrugged by way of a reply, not sure what to tell him, it was genuinely what she had thought. She tugged her improvised facemask down and took a step closer to her friend. Rin immediately stepped back, keeping a good ten feet between them.

 

“I suspected you had some kind of demon blood from the start of the year,” Inari revealed. She hoped that the admission would convey she didn’t care about his heritage and calm him down a little, but instead his nerves seemed to shoot through the roof.

“From the start of the year?” he cried out loudly. “Do the others know? Why would you even befriend me if you know I’m-“

 

“Rin, calm down,” Inari said. The boy blinked owlishly as she walked up to him and gripped his shoulders.

“I’m pretty sure the other students don’t know anything.” She assured him. “And I promise you I won’t tell them if you don’t want me too.” She tried to look him in the eyes to communicate her sincerity, but Rin stared down at his feet, effectively avoiding her gaze.

 

“Why would you promise someone like me-“

“Rin, stop and think for a moment,” Inari interrupted. She pulled her aura up for a moment, raising her upper lip to flash him her sharpened teeth. “I am not a hypocrite.”

 

Rin’s shoulders slumped in relief underneath Inari’s hands, and suddenly he just looked dead tired.

“So nothing changes?” he asked quietly. When he raised his head, his eyes were shiny with unshed tears and Inari felt a pang in her chest. Was the thought of others finding out really causing him that much anxiety? She couldn’t imagine being unable to tell _anybody_ about her demon side, hiding it from her roommate was hard enough.

Inari shook her head quickly, before pulling him into a hug. Rin hesitated for a moment before wrapping his arms around her.

“Nothing changes,” she mumbled into his shoulder, and the boy squeezed her a little tighter in reply.

 

Inari idly wondered how long it had been since Rin had been hugged like this. She had planned to step back after a moment, but it didn’t seem like he intended to let go anytime soon, and she decided to just let him have a moment of comfort.

There were hundreds of questions burning on Inari’s tongue, but she swallowed them all.

“The other’s are still fighting a naberious,” she managed to say eventually. She gently broke the hug and took a step back.

“It should be a bit easier with the lights back on, but we should probably go back to help them.”

Rin gave a terse nod.

 

-

 

When Rin and Inari returned to the dorm room, the naberious had made its way through half of the barrier Shiemi was still holding up. Its movements had become sluggish and weak with the light, but it was still breaking the branches steadily. It didn’t turn around when Rin and Inari entered through the broken door instead, it focused all its energy on getting to where Suguro was steadily reciting passages from the bible.

 

Inari sniffed to clear her nose of the blood that had started to flow again and reached for the can of deodorant in her waistband. She could feel the presence of Nii and the two foxes Kamiki had summoned before and based her strategy on that.

“Rin,” She whispered softly, “I have a crazy plan. Whatever happens, don’t interfere.”

Without waiting for his response, Inari stalked forward. She moved carefully and tried to keep her footsteps as light as possible, as to keep her presence unnoticed by the demon.

 

Only when she was within a few feet of the naberious did she cry out.

“Shiemi!” She shouted, grabbing the attention everyone in the room.

Inari flipped off the cap of her can of deodorant and sprayed out a large cloud of the perfumed gas in the direction of the demon. Using her fox-fire she spread it across the demon, which roared in protest. It couldn’t turn to attack her because it had failed to clear the branches on its side. It had limited its own movement.

“Let Nii-chan drop the barrier!”

 

Shiemi protested lightly but obeyed regardless. In a puff of smoke and the scent of grass, the branches disappeared.

“Kamiki, Miketsu-san, Ukemochi-san, get ready to put out fire!” Inari shouted. She could feel the change in their aura as Kamiki recited the prayer to prepare sacred wine, and whipped out her lighter.

With a flick of the switch, a large cloud of fire surrounded the demon, burning its rotting skin off and filling the room with the stench of scorched flesh.

 

As it had the freedom to move now that the branches gone, the naberious stumbled in Inari’s direction, blindly reaching out an arm to grab her as the flames dissipated. Behind her, Inari could see Rin move forward, holding out his sword case as if it was the katana itself.

 

“Stay back Rin!” Inari warned. Luckily the boy listened, and this time Inari set the spray of deodorant itself on fire so that she was wielding a makeshift flamethrower. The heat of the flames made her break out in sweat, but she didn’t waver. She directed it at the outstretched arm first and fought to keep down her dinner as the stench of burning flesh seemed to close in on her.

 

“Holy shit!” somebody cried out, and Suguro raised his voice.

“Is Suguro nearing the end?” Inari cried out desperately to nobody in particular. She had hoped that the first burst of flame would’ve been enough to kill the demon, but it seemed that her flames were not on the same level as Rin’s blue fire. As she ducked away from the demon charging at her, she had to cut the gas to avoid hurting herself or setting the floor on fire.

 

With a heavy growl, the demon jumped at Inari, splattering miasma all around itself. The bottle of deodorant flew out of her hand at the impact, but the demon had her pinned to the ground before she could move to go after it. Pain tore through her back, and Inari cried out, realizing that she had ripped her stitches.

 

Shima stormed forward as Suguro raised his voice again. The boy threw his staff with all his might, and the hit he delivered was powerful enough to tear through the demon’s shoulder. It roared loudly and pulled the injured arm closer to itself.

Inari was unable to think straight anymore, the pressure of the demon on her chest too heavy and the rest of the room too loud with shouts of panic to allow her to hear her own thoughts. If that thing applied just a little more pressure or dripped its miasma in her face, it would all be over.

 

“I suppose even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written!”

 

It took a moment to comprehend what happened. Suddenly everything went silent and the pressure was lifted from Inari’s chest. She took shuddering breaths to calm herself, but she was still shaking when Rin kneeled down next to her.

He carefully helped her sit up, but the movement upset Inari’s stomach, and she barely managed to push Rin away before she retched.

 

Kamiki made a sound of disgust somewhere behind them, Shima turned away quickly to avoid looking at the scene and Shiemi froze. Nobody seemed to know what to do while Inari emptied her stomach, except for Rin, who quickly gathered the loose strands of Inari’s hair to hold them out of the way.

 

After a while Inari was only dry heaving, tears running down her cheeks. When the heaving subsided, she wiped away the tears and straightened. She felt like she’d been hit by a train.

“Better now?” Rin asked softly as he tried to help her stand up. Inari fell back to her knees right after he stopped supporting her weight, and shrugged miserably. The overwhelming nausea was gone, but now she was left with the nasty taste in her mouth and a feeling of heavy lethargy.

 

“How did the two of you get back here so fast?” Suguro asked as he walked over to them. He held out a bottle of water to Inari, who took it gratefully. As she broke the seal on the cap with trembling hands, Rin answered Suguro’s question.

“We defeated the other one,” he boasted with a broad grin.

 

“What the hell?” Suguro exploded so suddenly Inari dropped the bottle. The boy shoved Rin to the ground harshly and continued to rant at him.

“Were you trying to get yourself killed? You almost dragged Yukimura down with you too! You idiot!”

 

“Hey, I chose to go after him,” Inari protested weakly. Suguro shot her a heated glare that had her shrink back a little, before turning back to Rin, who was scrambling back to his feet, ready to launch in a verbal attack of himself.

 

“What on…”

The students turned towards the destroyed doorway, where Okumura-sensei and Neuhaus were standing.

Without hesitation, Rin moved in front of his classmates and took a defensive stance.

“Yu-Yukio, He’s an ene-“

 

Rin was cut off rather abruptly when a white blur dropped from the ceiling and onto his back.

“Alright, thank you for your hard work, pages!” Mephisto exclaimed happily as he dropped into the room. With a hop, he got off of Rin and looked around the room. He wrinkled his nose as he spotted Inari’s sick, and vanished it with a snap of his fingers.

 

“Isn’t, isn’t that the principal?” Suguro wondered. “What’s he doing here?”

“Well, Of course there was a reason why I, the principal, would allow the invasion of upper-class demons.” He clapped his hands together, and suddenly more teachers appeared in the room. They sprung from ceiling tiles, underneath the floorboards and other hiding spots that did not seem big enough to contain an adult.

“These doctor class teachers will treat your wounds~” Mephisto continued with wide gestures. “Don’t you see? This training camp has served a double purpose as the exorcist authorization exam!”

 

While Mephisto explained his great plan of testing them, Inari spaced out. A female exorcist was cleaning the blood from her nose, - expressing surprise when she found that Inari’s nose was not in fact broken – but she barely felt the woman’s careful touch.

 

“Hey, miss…” Inari started, but the exorcist simply continued to tut over the cuts and bruises Inari had gained during the fight.

“Miss…” she tried again.

“Hmm?”

“I think I’m gonna pass out”

 

-

 

Waking up was a slow, and somewhat painful process for Inari. Her senses returned to her one by one. First came the awful taste in her mouth that meant she’d been breathing through it, then the scratchy feeling of cheap sheets and a woolen blanket and the distinct smell of medical facilities that made Inari want to fall back into the holds of sleep. Waking up this way in a medical room could only mean she’d been hurt, and she’d rather put off feeling the pain for a while.

 

Her hopes were squashed when sounds started filtering through her semi-conscious haze. Suguro was thanking Shiemi, who sounded completely flustered as she tried to give a reply.

“I’m serious, I shudder to think what would have happened without you and Yukimura.”

“Moriyama-san’s sure to pass the exam,” Shima agreed. “If she doesn’t, the rest of us don’t even stand a chance.

 

Inari clenched her eyes tighter in a last ditch effort to fall back asleep.

“Oh yeah, Okumura, how did you manage to defeat that ghoul?” Konekomaru asked when the conversation about the exam lulled.

“Oh uh, I just stabbed it,” Rin managed. “With my sword…”

Inari sighed and reluctantly opened her eyes, if she had to wake up, she could at least save Rin from putting the suspicion of four of their classmates on him.

“Don’t go claiming all the glory like that Rin,” She complained as she slowly sat up, wiping the sleep out of her eyes. The movement pulled at the healing cuts on her back and she suppressed a flinch at the pain. Somebody had changed her into a striped yukata, and for her own sake of mind, she was going to assume the female exorcist who’d treated her was the one who did that. There was also an iv-drip connected to her arm.

“We only managed to defeat it because I burned its tail off when you distracted it with your sword.”

 

“Wow, that’s pretty good teamwork.” Konekomaru praised them from the bed next to hers, and Inari smiled involuntarily. “Luck’s more likely,” she confessed. “I had no idea whether it would even work, and it certainly didn’t the second time for some reason.”

 

While the others continued to discuss last evening’s events, Inari took a moment to gather herself. A glance around the room showed that she was not the only one with an iv-drip; both Shiemi and Rin had a needle in their arm as well, and for a moment she wondered if they’d been hurt more than she recalled.

 

“Are you all okay?” she asked quietly, gesturing at the medical equipment surrounding them. As far as she could see, most of it wasn’t in use

“Yeah, most of us are here as a precaution, we had a check-up before you woke up,” Shima explained. “They even dragged those guys here-“ he waved in the general direction of Yamada and Takara, who didn’t seem interested in making conversation with their classmates at all- “and they didn’t even do anything.”

“I beat level 164,” Yamada interjected dryly before going back to his game.

 

“Unbelievable…” Suguro groaned, and Inari found herself agreeing with Suguro’s disdain. She wasn’t even sure what their qualities as exorcists were, as they never did much in class either, but any help would have been welcomed when they were facing that naberious.

 

The students stayed for a little longer to chat, but then Tsubaki-sensei entered the room. He checked the students one last time before relieving Rin and Shiemi of their IVs.

“Except for Yukimura-kun, all of you are free to go. If you hurry, you should be able to catch breakfast in the dining hall.” He stated.

 

When everybody was gone, Tsubaki-sensei turned back to Inari.

“How are you feeling?” he asked as he got to work.

“Weird,” Inari confessed. When Tsubaki-sensei’s large eyebrows pinched together, she elaborated a bit. “My sinuses hurt and I feel like I bruised my entire body.”

Tsubaki-sensei checked the IV-bag, took her blood pressure and temperature, and then nodded to himself.

 

“Your body is still recovering from last night, but with some more rest, you should be fine. I must say that you had quite the reaction to that naberious, Yukimura-kun.” He concluded.

“You could say that again,” Inari muttered. With a sigh, she sunk back into the pillows. “How long will I need to stay here?”

 

Tsubaki-sensei thought for a moment.

“Until the day after tomorrow I’d say,” he decided. “Your body reacted to the ghoul as if it spread airborne miasma. Adachi-sensei thinks it might be because you’re an air user. If you ask me, it’s a miracle you held up so well.”

Inari considered this. She had admittedly lost quite some blood through the nosebleeds - it was more than enough to stain her shirt, not to mention the necktie she’d bound around her face – and she had tired out a lot quicker than during training too.

 

“He’s probably right, Tsubaki-sensei. Their scent makes me nauseous and I think it is the cause of the nosebleeds.”

“Well, I’ll make sure to send someone by with breakfast in a bit,” Tsubaki-sensei stated before gathering his stuff. “Just rest for now Yukimura-kun.”

 

Inari spent most of the following 24 hours asleep. The IV was taken out by the end of the first afternoon, but she still got painkillers from the exorcist who checked in on her every couple of hours. At some point, Takara-kun had stopped by with her homework and lesson notes, and Inari was reminded that the boy was in her year even if she never saw him.

 

The third morning of her stay in the infirmary, Inari was working on her homework as she waited for an exorcist to tell her she was allowed to leave. She’d been wide awake since half past five in the morning, a result of all the time she’d spent asleep the days before, and she was steadily getting more and more frustrated.

 

Inari was so engrossed in her assignment that she didn’t even notice when the door opened and an exorcist entered the infirmary.

For her English assignment, she had to translate a short Japanese ghost story into English, and she was finding that some Japanese concepts were hard to translate.

“How do you even translate yurei into English?” she complained out loud when a particular sentence didn’t come out right.

 

“Try spirit,” a voice to her right said, and Inari startled violently. She looked up to find familiar dark eyes and a soft smile.

“Good morning, Nana-chan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And suddenly it's been almost 2 months since the last update. ...Oops?  
> In all seriousness, sorry for the long wait and thank you for your patience. I hope you enjoy this chapter because while it took long, I did have fun writing it. 
> 
> Please leave kudos or a comment, it makes my day!


	15. Chapter 15

“Jun-nii!” Inari exclaimed, sitting up abruptly. Jun caught the notebook she had sent flying before it could fall off the bed and put it on the nightstand next to her bed. “What are you doing here, I thought you said you wouldn’t come!”

Jun cast a meaningful glance at her hospital bed.   
“Inari, I got a call from your cram school homeroom teacher in the middle of a mission, telling me you’d gotten hurt during the exwire authorization exam, of course I came,” he said softly.   
“It’s not that serious,” Inari tried, but Jun cut her off immediately.   
“I’ve been told you threw up, passed out from exhaustion and had to get stitches. Is any of that wrong?” 

Inari found she couldn’t look her brother in the eye and say otherwise, so she averted her gaze and slowly shook her head.   
“It wasn’t that bad…” She tried. “Besides I’m good as new now.”   
Jun sighed deeply and ran a hand through his brown hair. He somehow looked years older than before he’d left, and Inari’s chest felt uncomfortably heavy at the sight. 

“I know you are now Inari,” Jun started, and he wrung his hands together. “Adachi-sensei allowed me to discharge you after all, but you can’t be that reckless again,” he added softly.   
“I wasn’t being reckless! I just-“  
“You were Inari, and you know it. Even if you’ve got more access to your powers, you are not invincible. You know it would destroy me if something happens to you.” 

Inari knew Jun wasn’t trying to make her feel guilty, but the worry on his face made her want to curl up and hide from his gaze underneath the covers.   
“Sorry Jun-nii…” she whispered, feeling ashamed of how she had treated her older brother the past two weeks. 

Jun reached out and carefully tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.   
“Just be more careful okay? I don’t know if I can wrangle anymore emergency transport keys out of lord Pheles.”   
Inari nodded.   
“Good, get dressed and ready for school then, your homeroom starts in 45 minutes.”

Inari hesitated for a moment, but she didn’t even need to voice her worries before Jun took them away.   
“I’ll be here until Sunday morning,” he said.   
“Really, Jun-nii?” Inari asked in surprise. She had half expected him to leave after he had made sure she was still in one piece.  
“Yes, so you can go to school this last day before the weekend.” He told her sternly. 

Inari nodded h and grabbed the clean clothes Kamiki had brought for her the day before. The two girls still didn’t like each other, but they had a newfound, begrudging respect for each other after the exwire exam.   
“You will join me for lunch though, right?” she asked quietly.  
“Of course, let’s see if the lunch hall is still on par with 5 star restaurants.” 

-

Inari’s normal school day was rather hectic. She had managed to stay on top of her homework because Takara had brought her all the assignments, but she had to hunt down classmates with complete notes on the classes she’d missed as Takara’s were far from complete, and said classmates were not all that willing to give a “slacker” their hard work. Nobody seemed to care she’d been in the infirmary with a concussion. (Which had apparently been what the regular teachers were told about her absence.) 

“You should’ve texted me, Inari-chan, I would have made sure to take better notes” Hiyori admonished her as they walked out of Mathematics, their last class before lunch. 

“I didn’t think about it with the concussion…” Inari said with a shrug. “I’ll keep it in mind for a next time though, your notes would be a great help if you didn’t use that weird personalized shorthand of yours.” 

Hiyori stopped walking, put her hands on her hips, and leant forward. She waited for a moment until she had Inari’s attention, and then pulled her sternest expression.  
“There’d better not be a next time, young lady!” she said in her best mother-hen voice. “You will take better care of yourself, so that you won’t end up sick or injured every other day!” 

“Amen to that,” a new voice said, and Hiyori spun around so fast Inari was surprised she didn’t topple over.   
“Hello nii-san!” Inari greeted her brother, while Hiyori gaped at him in obvious surprise. 

Jun didn’t draw a lot of attention to himself. He had shed his exorcist uniform, and was now wearing a simple white button up with the sleeves rolled up, a nice pair of dark jeans and he had a brown messenger bag slung over his shoulder. Despite being older than the student body walking the halls around them, he managed to blend in pretty well. 

“Hiyori-chan, this is my older brother Jun,” Inari said.   
“Ah, I am Ishikawa Hiyori, Inari’s roommate. Nice to meet you Yukimura-san,” Hiyori introduced herself. She gave a quick bow, which Jun answered with a short bow of his own. 

“Inari and I are going to have lunch in the cafeteria, do you want to join us?” He asked kindly, and Hiyori send Inari a hesitant look. Inari had complained about the strained contact, and she suspected her friend didn’t want to interrupt their time together. 

“It’s fine with me,” Inari assured her with a little smile, hoping it didn’t look as forced as it felt. “Nii-san’s going to be here all weekend, so we can get family time later.” 

“Let’s go then, ladies” Jun said. They joined the small stream of students going towards the lunch hall. 

Inari paused when they entered the lunch hall. She had avoided it because she’d heard about the ridiculous pricing, and had to take a moment to take in the grandeur of the place. The high ceiling was accentuated by large arched windows that allowed the sun to light up the enormous space, with a little help from massive chandeliers. There was a faint complaint from another student because they were blocking the entrance, and Jun put his hand on her shoulder to guide her towards the food-ticket vending machines. 

Inari took one look at the prices and turned back around.   
“Let’s eat somewhere else,” She whispered. “This is insane, I thought this was a school cafeteria.”  
Jun gave a soft laugh and gestured back at the vending machine.   
“Just pick something, and don’t worry about the price. It’s is my treat.” He reassured her, so Inari hesitantly turned back to the machine.   
“You don’t have to pay for me,” Hiyori chimed in happily. “I’ve got lunch money.” 

Inari had half a mind to ask what kind of fortune Hiyori’s parents had to call over 8000 yen ‘lunch money’, but decided not to bother. Instead she studied the menu and tried to make a choice.   
“If you’re going to try and pick the cheapest option I’ll choose for you, Nana-chan,” Jun said drily. He’d snuck up on her to whisper in her ear, something only he managed most of the time.   
“Fine,” Inari whispered back, and she pushed the button for the quiche lorraine. 

After getting their lunches, the three of them sat down at a table near the entrance and started their meal. They made small talk while eating, and despite the seemingly relaxed atmosphere, Inari felt tense. It was hard not to notice how quickly Jun steered the conversation away from questions about their family.

“So, Inari told me you live in Germany for work, what kind of job do you have Yukimura-san?” Hiyori asked curiously, and Inari raised an eyebrow at her brother, wondering what kind of answer he’d come up with. They’d never discussed a cover for his exorcist career. 

“Ah, I’m actually working with a group of scholars, we’re comparing mythological creatures in German and Japanese folklore,” Jun stated. “Right now we’re working on a project that compares Kitsune to German trickster foxes like Renert.”

Inari gave an impressed hum, he’d thought his cover through.   
“That’s impressive Yukimura-san, was it hard to adjust to the culture?” Hiyori asked curiously. Inari stayed quiet as Jun told Hiyori about his daily life in Germany. Even if Jun was acting relaxed and casual, she had a hard time forgetting their fight. She wasn’t about to bring it up in front of her roommate though, and for a moment she wondered if Jun had invited Hiyori along .   
She took the last bite of her quiche and sighed. Eating a lunch that cost about three times her monthly allowance still felt like a waste of money, but it did taste amazing. 

“Speaking of Germany, I’ve brought souvenirs, Inari,” Jun suddenly spoke up, startling her out of her thoughts. He grabbed his bag from the ground and reached inside, pulling out a small black box and handing it over. 

“Gold-schmied?” she read golden letters, “Wha-“   
“Just open it Inari,” Jun said with a chuckle. Whether it was because of her reaction to the box or her pronunciation of the unfamiliar word, she didn’t know.   
“Are you sure?” Inari asked, hesitating more for politeness sake than anything else, she was curious about the box’s content.   
“Yes, go ahead. I’ve got something for your friend too,” 

While Jun handed Hiyori a package with eight small cookies, Inari fiddled with the plastic box until it opened up, revealing a set of silver earrings.   
They looked like little star-shaped flowers, with thin silver leaves and a golden centre.  
Inari carefully lifted one out of the foam cushion they were resting on to get a better look. 

“They are edelweiss flowers,” Jun said softly “They grow in the mountains, and despite being notoriously hard to reach, they almost went extinct in the Alps because mountain climbers would pick them as evidence of their climb. They are protected now, but their likeness is still popular.” 

With a small smile Inari pulled of the backing of the stud and slid the earring through her pierced ear. After securing both of them, she bowed in thanks. She would have hugged her brother had they been in private, but that didn’t feel right in the packed lunch hall. 

“Thank you, nii-san.” She said softly.  
“You’re welcome Inari, I wanted to get you a special souvenir” Jun replied.  
“I’m glad you managed to find time to find me something despite your busy schedule.” Inari continued. It came out a bit harsher than she had meant, and Jun gave her a sharp, warning look. Lunch would end soon, and Hiyori was trying hard not to squirm in discomfort at the obvious tension between the siblings.   
“We’re making Ishikawa-san uncomfortable,” Jun said with a forced laugh. “Let’s continue that discussion tomorrow.” 

Inari shot her brother a frown, but didn’t press the issue. Jun was obviously avoiding the issue, but he was also right in that the lunch hall was not the place to have that particular discussion. With a sigh she changed the subject, and they spent the last few minutes of lunch sampling the Hiyori’s cookies. 

After regular classes had ended, Inari had half a mind to go back to the dorm to sleep. She and Hiyori had said goodbye to Jun after their lunch and gone to their last class of the day, during science class she had spent her time frantically penning down the notes the teacher wrote down on the blackboard as he reviewed the subjects they had handled this week, but now Inari’s fatigue was catching up with her. 

With a sigh Inari put the cram school key into the keyhole of a nondescript door in an empty hallway. She was going to try her best, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to focus on the lessons for the next two and a half hours. The hallway was empty, and Inari hurried towards the homeroom classroom, hoping she wasn’t late. She was not in the mood for a lecture from Okumura-sensei. 

“Ah, Inari! Are you feeling better?” Rin called as she walked through the door. Inari gave a small smile and approached him and Shiemi.   
“I’m so tired” she replied honestly. She cast a glance around the classroom to see that all their classmates were there already, but turned back when Shiemi gasped.   
“I didn’t know you had pierced ears, Inari-san,” the girl said, staring at the flower studs. 

Inari reached up to touch the flowers self-consciously.   
“I had them done after graduating from middle school, but my last school didn’t allow earrings, so I haven’t worn any in a long time,” she explained. “I was actually afraid the holes would’ve closed up, but they didn’t.” Finding out she’d have to take out her little piercing studs when she started high school had been quite a disappointment, and she felt happy to wear earrings again.   
“They’re really pretty, Inari-san, are they white beauties?” Shiemi asked.   
“White beauties?” Rin repeated, a confused look on his face. Inari furrowed her brow in confusion as well, until she remembered that Shiemi liked to make up her own names for plants. 

“Jun-nii called them edelweiss” Inari replied. “He bought them for me in Germany.”   
“Oh, did he come see you?” Rin asked curiously.   
“Yeah, he was supposed to visit this weekend anyway, but he came sooner after he heard about my injury.” Inari said, omitting the fact that Jun had actually cancelled his plans to come over ages ago. 

It also really bothered her he hadn’t mentioned visiting the family graves at all during the conversations they’d had since that morning. 

“Wait, does that mean you’re cancelling our study session on Sunday?” Rin perked up suddenly. Inari nodded in reply, and a grin spread across Rin’s face  
“Hell yeah, a free afternoon!” he cheered, and Inari couldn’t stop the little chuckle that escaped her.   
“You should probably try to study on your own, you know?” She chastised him half-heartedly. “Your grades are pretty decent now, so you should keep it up.”   
Rin gave a noncommittal hum, and leant back in his seat.   
“We’ll see.” 

The door opened slowly, and Inari quickly made her way to her desk. Okumura-sensei walked in, but instead of closing the door behind him like he usually did, he held it open for a moment so that Mephisto Pheles could enter as well. 

The principal made his way in front of the desk, took off his head, and pulled doves with a banner out of it.   
“Congratulations!” he cried out loudly. “Everybody is promoted to exwire!” He vanished the banner with a snap of his finger and put his hat back on, grinning devilish at the cheering students.   
“Well then, to celebrate everybody’s promotion, I the rich principal –“ he paused to build up suspense – “Will treat all of you to monja!” 

“Monja?” Rin cried out after a beat of silence. “At least treat us to Yakiniku!” 

-

Jun sat down next to Inari in the booth surrounding the grill plate. They’d been the first ones to arrive at the little monja-yaku venue, and the owner had kindly pointed them to the grill nearest to the front so they could see the others arrive. 

“Sir Pheles is still a cheapskate, huh?” Jun said with a chuckle, adjusting the utensils in front of him.   
“Apparently so,” Inari replied shortly. She tried hard to stay polite, but she was starting to feel upset with her brother’s nonchalant attitude.   
“At least you like monja,” Jun tried again. Inari just gave a nod and kept quiet. The silence that followed was stifling, and when Inari spotted Suguro, Shima and Miwa approach she quickly jumped up to wave them over. 

When Jun recognized the teens as well, he covered his mouth to muffle a chuckle.   
“You were right, those are some pretty insane hairstyles,” He whispered while they were still out of ear-shot.   
“I think they look pretty cool,” Inari said contrarily. Jun narrowed his eyes at her, but she just stared back at him stubbornly.  
“Inari…”  
“I thought you said we would talk tomorrow,” Inari bit out, crossing her arms across her chest and sitting back down with a huff. Jun sighed deeply. 

“All right Inari,” he said, standing up and grabbing his messenger bag. He pulled out a plastic bento box and placed it in front of his sister with a little more force then necessary.   
“I’ll see you at true cross station tomorrow.” He told her as he swung the strap across his shoulder. 

“Don’t forget to save some food for mom and Grandma.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada, chapter 15! I have to admit that I’m a little bit insecure about this chapter, but it sets up the next chapter, so I decided to leave it the way it is now.   
> Please leave a review with your thoughts, it makes me happy! As you may have noticed, I try to reply to all of them.


	16. Chapter 16

Inari closed the door to the passenger’s seat of the bright green rental car and stretched, taking care not to drop the two bouquets of Lilies. It felt good to finally be in the open air again. They had just arrived on the small parking lot across from the cemetery where their family’s graves were, after more than two and a half hours of traveling.

 

The siblings had caught the seven a.m. bullet train in Tokyo, but Inari had fallen asleep a few minutes out of the station as she wasn’t fully recovered from the exwire exam yet, and still needed more rest than she usually did.

The car ride from Nagoya station to the cemetery had been a lot shorter but she’d been awake for it, and it felt like the stifling tension between her and Jun had seeped into her bones.

 

“Come on, Inari,” Jun stated, grabbing his messenger bag from the passenger seat while his sister tried to smooth out the wrinkles in her black dress. They had bought the flowers and incense at the department store at the station, and their scent hit Inari for a moment as Jun swung the bag over his shoulder. He locked the car door and stuffed the key in the back pocket of his jeans, before gesturing for Inari to follow him across the road, where they passed through the gates of the cemetery.

 

About 10 metres before the rows of graves started, there was a small shed connected to the Buddhist temple watching over the cemetery, where the wooden buckets and ladles were kept. Inari made her way towards it, feeling somewhat surprised that there seemed to be nobody to hand them out. She cast a look over the cemetery to see if the old priest who usually took up this task was tending to a few of the older graves that were visited less, but didn’t see anybody over there either.

 

She walked back to Jun -who had found a water tap- and handed him the bucket.

“Thanks, Inari,” Jun said flalty before running the tap, and Inari jumped slightly when she heard his voice. They had hardly spoken all morning, and it had seemed like the silence would continue as they visited the graves.

 

“You’re welcome,” she replied back, her voice barely above a whisper. With a short nod, Jun rose out of his crouch near the tab, and started to make his way towards their grandparents’ grave.

 

The closer they came, the heavier Inari’s heart felt, and she forced herself to take a few deep breaths when they stood in front of the grave. It still hurt to read her grandmother’s name – Tanaka Sachiko – on the stone.

Despite the fact that it had been a few months since their last visit, the dark grey gravestone was in relatively good shape. The siblings made quick work of the few weeds growing around the base, and the bits of dirt were brushed of easily.

 

Jun took about half of the incense sticks out of his bag and lit the bundle. He killed the flames with a quick wave and divided the sticks into the two incense holders. Inari quietly placed one bouquet of lilies in the little flower vase, and set the container of rice and monja next to it.

Jun nudged the bucket of water in her direction, and Inari ladled the water over the grave stone, making sure to wet the whole structure.

 

After that was done, the siblings clapped their hands together and bowed their heads. Usually Inari would talk about her life’ how she was doing at school and in her after school club, whether she’d made new friends, that sort of thing. Sometimes she and Jun would sit down and talk for more than an hour.

 

But for once, Inari didn’t know what to tell her grandmother. She firmly believed the woman’s spirit watched over them, which meant she had seen everything that had happened the past few months, and she felt ashamed of her behaviour and the doubts she felt about her brother. The one coherent thought she managed to direct at the gravestone was ‘I’m sorry’.

 

After a few moments Jun raised his head, plucked the left over bouquet of flowers out of Inari’s arms and turned away.

“Where are you going?” Inari asked him in surprise.

“I’m going to visit mom and dad,” Jun said, and although he didn’t sound unkind, Inari felt another stab of guilt.

“Oh,” she managed. “I’ll wait here.”

Jun shot her an unreadable look, but didn’t question her.

 

Inari felt the first prickle of tears in her eyes as she watched Jun walk away from her, and when she turned back to watch the incense sticks burn away steadily, they spilled on to her cheeks. The loneliness she’d been feeling ever since the fight with Jun started slammed back into her full force, and she had to choke back a sob.

 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to grave, and she sniffled weakly.

“I’m sorry. I don’t want to fight with Jun-nii, Grandma.”

There was no answer of course, and even though Inari rationally knew Sachiko had passed to where-ever souls went after their deaths a long time ago, it still felt like her grandmother was giving her the cold shoulder as well.

With a sob Inari sat down at the base of the grave, and let herself cry.

 

-

 

Inari had managed to pull herself back together before Jun returned, but she was far from okay, and her calm was as fragile as spun glass. She wiped away the incense ashes that had fallen on the stone with shaking hands and quietly picked up the food offering.

 

When Jun returned he seemed as stoic as ever, and Inari felt a flash of resentment. She hated how unaffected he was by their conflict.

“Do you want to visit mom?” Jun asked, voice calm and steady.

Inari shook her head in reply. She was already feeling the cracks appear in her calm façade, and she was afraid it would break if she answered verbally.

 

“You sure? It’s going to be a while before you can come back here,” Jun tried again.

“’m sure,” Inari managed to force out. She held out the container of rice and monja in his direction, and when he took it from her, she picked up the bucket and ladle.

 

Without waiting for her brother Inari made her way back to the shed, where she unceremoniously returned the items before walking out of the cemetery. She heard Jun’s rushed footsteps behind her as she crossed the empty road, but didn’t slow down until she reached the car.  

When she tried to open the door to the passenger seat, she found it was locked. She shot an angry glare in Jun’s direction, and tried to ignore the lump growing in her throat.

 

“Inari…” Jun sighed when he’d caught up with her. He tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but she took a step back.

“What do you want?” she bit out, but her voice broke, and with it the frigid façade. Tears trickled down her cheeks again, and she quickly turned around to hide her face.

 

“Inari, please,” Jun tried again, but she turned around and slapped his hand away when he reached out again.

“No,” she managed in between sobs. “Don’t act like I’m being the unreasonable one!”

Jun frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but Inari didn’t let him.

“You come waltzing back into my life after three weeks of radio silence-“

“I tried to call you multiple times, you stopped picking up,” Jun interjected.

“Yeah,” Inari sneered. “After getting shorter with me in every interaction we shared, being so secretive about your job in Germany that you told Hiyori more about it than me, and cancelling the visit to our _family’s graves_!”

 

She took a shuddering breath, noting that her sobs were subsiding.

“Then you come waltzing in, avoiding any discussion about what happened and treating me like a surly teenager, and you’ll go back to Germany tomorrow with out giving me a second thought. Did you finally decide you don’t want me anymore?”

 

Inari watched Jun’s face go ashen with a feeling of sick satisfaction.

“You don’t actually think that,” he whispered, sounding absolutely horrified.

“I don’t know anymore, Jun-nii,” Inari replied just as quietly. “I feel like you decided I’m too much trouble or something. Maybe you’re finally blaming me for Mom’s death…”

 

It was a thought that plagued Inari ever since she found out she was a half demon, but for the longest time she’d been able to block it out. Her family had always been good to her, and nothing Jun said ever suggested he held any resentment towards her, so the few times the thought had slipped through when she was feeling down, she had felt silly and laughed it off.

 

Now though, she couldn’t help but wonder if there was some truth to it after all. Why else would Jun leave without even putting up a fight against the Vatican’s orders?

Jun appeared to be dumbfounded by her statement, and when he stepped forward to touch her again, Inari didn’t stop him.

He drew her into a tight hug, and she could feel him shake.

“Inari, please tell me you don’t actually think that.”

 

Inari buried her face in Jun’s shirt and shrugged her shoulders miserably.

“I hate how far away you are,” she admitted. “And how it barely seems to affect you at all.” Jun just tightened his hold on her for a moment, and she continued after a deep breath.

“I know you’re building your own life, and I understand that will change things between us, but still…”

“There will always be place for you in my life Inari,” whispered. He took a step back and brought a hand to her cheek.

 

“I am so sorry I’ve hurt you like this, I should’ve been honest with you from the start.” He said.

“Of you should have been honest, but what do you mean?” Inari asked softly.

“I was assigned the mission in Germany, because it resembles your father’s case.”

 

Inari jerked back in surprise, looking at her brother in shock. Jun sighed and ran his hand through his hair, a nervous habit he never really grew out off.

“My father’s case?” she repeated.

 

“Mom got pregnant with you when she was in a very bad place, your father took advantage of her bad state.” Jun started carefully.

“We don’t know what he did after that, he hid until a few months after you were born.”

“That’s when he started to-”

“When he started to kill baby demons like that Nekomata’s kittens, yes. The order stepped in because the ‘parents’ of the killed demons would go on rampages. They never managed to catch him, and then he killed a human baby. It’s unknown what happened after that as he fell of the radar again, and we never found a trace of him again.”

 

“Then what does the case in Germany have to do with him?” Inari asked, trying to process the new information. She had heard most of it, but nobody had told her about the human baby that was killed by her father.

 

“At the end of last year baby demons started to die, sending the older demons into rampages. Local exorcists claim to have seen a multi tailed fox in the general vicinity of the scenes where the rampages took place.”

 

“Do they think it was Arashi?” Inari asked, suddenly unable to call him her father.

“They’re not sure,” Jun replied. “Germany has few fox demons that fit the description, but demons generally don’t leave the places they originally enter Assiah at, and after 15 years of silence? It could very well be another demon entirely.”

 

“But it may be connected, so they put you on the case? You were just a kid when all that happened.” Inari said, her emotional distress forgotten for a moment to make place for indignation on her brother’s behalf.

“I was old enough to understand what happened after dad died in the car crash,” Jun replied after a moment of silence.

“I saw how mom got worse with each day. She stayed out late, was barely sober anymore and left grandma to care for me. It was horrible. And then one morning, she came home ecstatic, saying she’d spent the night with dad. She found out she was pregnant a few weeks later.”

 

“Did you know about demons then?” Inari asked quietly.

“Grandma explained Mom had been misled by a demon quite soon after she turned out to be pregnant, but I thought she meant that metaphorically at first. I only understood after you accidentally gave me the temptaint.”

 

Inari brought a hand up to the necklace hidden underneath her dress, feeling the little ball through the fabric. She had been told that she had scratched Jun when he picked her out of her cradle, which had been enough to count as a temptaint. Grandma had asked Mephisto to seal her powers soon after the incident, and the little piece of parchment had been stuck to the pendant ever since.

 

“When I joined the cram school during high school, I researched Arashi as much as I could, which the Vatican picked up on, because I was not subtle about it. I think that’s why I was picked for this mission.”

 

Inari thought this new information over for a moment.

“So why didn’t you tell me?” She asked eventually, crossing her arms in front of her body. “I don’t like that you’ve been keeping things from me for months.”

“Inari, I was essentially sent to Germany to hunt down your father, how would you have reacted to that?” Jun shot back immediately.

 

“I don’t know, Jun-nii,” Inari conceded, but she was also getting worked up again. “But do you honestly think my reaction would’ve been worse than the situation as it is now?”

She shot Jun a sharp look as she waited for him to answer, but he kept quiet. His lips were drawn in a thin line, and Inari knew her face looked similar. According to their grandmother, they had the exact same expression when they upset, and his silence was driving her anger back up.

 

“Do you honestly think I would’ve been angry with you for hunting down mom’s rapist? Really? Without him she wouldn’t have become pregnant with me. She wouldn’t have died!” Inari said angrily.

 

“That’s not true, Inari,” Jun said, sounding weary.

“Of course it is, she-“

“She would’ve died either way!” he interrupted.

“What are you talking about? She died because of childbirth complications!”

“Yes, but if she hadn’t gotten pregnant with you, she would’ve committed suicide before the month was out!”

 

That shut up Inari real fast.

“She- suicide? What are you talking about?”

 

Jun rubbed a hand across his face and sank down on the hood of the rental.

“I’m serious when I said she was in a bad state, Inari,” He admitted. “She blamed herself for the car accident and threw her life away. Going out all night, hooking up with strange men… She was repressing her emotions by drinking, and in the moments she was sober, she was a miserable wreck.” He looked up for a moment.

“When I was fifteen, Grandma explained she had a severe depression after dad died. I think she was afraid it could be hereditary, so she felt she needed to explain it. When mom found out she was pregnant, she cleared up her act. Maybe she honestly believed you were dad’s for a while, but even when she understood you couldn’t be, she was happy.”

 

Inari swallowed thickly and sat down on the hood next to Jun.

“Mom was the one who named you, you know? She was conscious long enough to give you your name and introduce me to you. She said it was only fitting you bore the name of the deity that had given you to her.”

 

“She said Inari-O-kami gave me to her?” Inari asked in a whisper. Jun wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his side.

“Maybe it was because she and dad had been trying for another baby.” Jun speculated. “Inari-O-kami is the deity of fertility and fortune after all.”

 

“Or maybe she realized who my father was. Did mom have a temptaint?”

“I never found out,” Jun replied honestly.

 

They sat in silence for a while. The steady presence of her brother helped Inari calm down, and with each deep breath she felt the negative emotions that had been a steady presence in her gut since their first argument diminish.

“Let’s go see mom,” Jun said after about ten minutes had passed. “And then we’ll go find a café, you’ve got a lot to tell me about what happened at cram school the passed few weeks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chapter is very heavy on Original Content, and I’m quite proud of it. I hope I succeeded in fleshing out the relation between Inari and Jun a bit more; I’ve rewritten this chapter so much before it felt right. 
> 
> Please tell me what you thought, I’m incredibly grateful for all feedback I’ve gotten so far, and the notification emails always brighten my day!


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